


warrior cats dark clans untold tale

by 55tuvi_balstar55



Category: Warrior Cats - Fandom, Warriors - Erin Hunter, warrior cats untold tales
Genre: Gen, Kittypets, OC, Warrior Cats, dark clan, loners, no canon charecters, oc clan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2020-06-29 15:34:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 27,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19833181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/55tuvi_balstar55/pseuds/55tuvi_balstar55
Summary: forced to leave her clan dark fur takes her kits to the outskirts of the clan territory's, now a rouge with three kits dark fur must survive the hardships of the wild, but it seems some cats are in need of guidance and a home so maybe she wont have to do this alone





	1. allegiances

**Author's Note:**

> based on my untold tales save file

dark fur's group  
Leader- dark fur - long legged black she-cat with amber eyes and a triangular face  
Deputy-None  
Medicine Cat-None

Warriors-  
none

Apprentices  
None

Queens  
None

Kits  
berry kit - tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes and a fluffy tail  
crow kit - large sleek black tom with amber eyes and white paws and tail tip  
spotted kit - small white tom with amber eyes and orange patches 

Elders  
None

river clan-  
Leader- clear star - light blue tom with ice blue eyes  
Deputy- cold fur - black tom with blue eyes  
Medicine Cat- mouse pounce - grey she-cat  
willow fur - golden she-cat 

Warriors  
weasel jaw - black tom with white paws and tail tip with green eyes  
silver stone - light grey tabby tom with yellow eyes  
clover poppy - white and grey she-cat with green eyes  
thrush ear - pure white tom  
fairy frost - white and grey she-cat  
jade pelt - blue grey she-cat with green eyes 

Apprentices-  
None

Queens  
stream tail - golden she-cat with blue eyes  
seed fern - grey mottled tabby she-cat with green eyes 

Kits-  
stone kit - light grey tom  
gleam kit- blue grey she-cat  
mottle kit - grey mottled tabby tom with green eyes  
dawn kit - white she-cat with orange patches 

Elders  
hawk claw - brown tom 

star clan  
breeze talon - (river clan) white tom with orange patches 

Cats Outside Clans  
hawk- scarred dark grey tabby tom with green eyes and broad shoulders  
ripely- large light ginger tabby tom with green eyes  
misty - silver tabby she-cat with light blue eyes


	2. prologue

Allegiances- http://apawineachworld.com/untoldlegacy/?shareGuid=4e860808-356a-3b15-43ba-7eb22ecd31b6

Prologue-  
the cold wind blew over the river sending small ripples in every direction, there was silence except for the quiet squeaks of water vole’s and mice, then angry hisses of two cats cut through the morning silence of new leaf, two tom cats their pelts both deep black were hissing to each other angrily about another cat in the middle of the river clan camp “she betrayed me cold fur that’s all there is too it, those kits are abominations” one said 

Dark fur lay by the entrance of the river clan nursery glaring at the two, her former mate weasel jaw was raving to his brother cold fur about their kits not being his and how dark fur betrayed him, she looked to were said kits were playing, there was spotted kit, berry kit and crow kit, all this fuss all because their fur wasn’t all black.

Dark furs pelt was pitch black and so was weasel jaws except for his paws and tail tip, while berry kit was a tortishell and spotted kit was white with orange patches, crow kit was an exact lookalike of weasel jaw black fur and same white paws and tail tip, although weasel jaw seemed to ignore this fact in favour of ranting about the orange patches of fur the other kits had.

He had seen the kits and accused her of mating with another tom, turning a joyous occasion for the couple and river clan to a rumour mill about the new kits, they were barley even a moon old now and he tried to make things as difficult as possible for them.

He spread rumours and withheld prey from them, one of the other queen’s stream tail knew what weasel jaw was doing was wrong but unless she wanted the ire of the tom and seed fern she would have to ignore dark furs plight, she had two kits of her own after all. 

Seed fern was the other river clan queen who hater dark fur with a passion, she believed her mate breeze talon had fathered the kits, breeze talon was a large white tom with orange patches similar in appearance to spotted kit, sadly the tom had died two moons ago so there was no way to be sure, this didn’t stop seed fern from telling her kits to bully dark furs much younger kits, of course the kit did as they were told and began harassing the younger kits relentlessly.

Crow kit got the worst of it, the tom had larger than average paws making him stumble over them often, he was easy prey to their insults, mottle kit pushed crow kit as he was walking past “hey clumsy kit look were you’re going” mottle kit growled his grey pelt shone in the new leaf sun, crow kit huffed getting up “I was before you pushed me” mottle kit pushed him down again “don’t you sass me” he growled, seeing this dawn kit made her way over her orange patched fur glowed gold in the light, “are we punishing clumsy kit again” she snarked green eyes narrowed cruelly.

“my name is crow kit not clumsy kit” he squeaked, “oh I’m soooo sorry crow food” dawn kit mocked, seed fern kits laughed cruelly, a dark shape came up behind them “leave now” dark fur growled at the two, they squealed and ran to the watching seed fern, crow kit pressed his body into his mother as seed fern glared at them.

Dark fur sent her own glare back at the grey tabby, for a while the queens glared at each other both of their tails curled around their respective kits, but when berry kit and spotted kit cried out in hunger from the nursery dark fur broke her gaze to enter the nursery and care for their needs, crow kit, berry kit and spotted kit were all curled up next to her stomach she looked at them sadly, they didn’t deserve the drama that surrounded them, she sighed and finally rested her head into the mossy nest to sleep.

She woke up during the night, her ears flicked as she heard muffled kit squeaks coming from outside the nursery, she blearily looked around only to realised that her kits were missing from the nest and ran outside, she yowled in alarm as she saw the figure of a cat leading her kits across the camp clearing.

Groans of anger and confusion came from the dens until she began yelling “my kits, that cat has my kits” she ran after the kit napper her long legs allowed her to catch up quickly, she was now able to make out who the cat was, “weasel jaw get away from my kits” she yelled, the tom continued to walk towards the camps exit, her kits looked back and attempted to run to her.

But weasel jaw grabbed berry kit by the scruff of her neck, berry kit squeaked in pain as weasel jaw bit into her scruff drawing blood, “your hurting me” the tortishell cried, “dad stop please” spotted kit cried trying to stop the tom hurting his sister anymore, “be quiet, your not my kit” weasel jaw said around a mouthful of berry kits fur, he kicked spotted kit away from himself.

Spotted kit and crow kit shrak back from the tom, dark fur positioned herself in front of her kits and growled at weasel jaw, their clan mates stood around the clearing confused as to why weasel jaw was taking the kits “what do you want with my kits you fox heart” dark fur hissed, berry kit struggled in weasel ferns jaws as he tightened his grip “im going to send them to the dark forest were they belong, these kits are monsters sent to kill us all” weasel fern hissed eyes wide and frantic.

The river clan cats all gasped hearing this, dark fur growled harder as crow kit and spotted kit whimpered, clear star suddenly appeared padding cautiously up to weasel jaw his grey blue pelt shining in the moon light, some cat surrounded weasel jaw hissing at him, weasel jaw un-sheathed his claws to attack clear star when one cat tackled him to the ground, weasel jaw was forced to release his grip on berry kit.

The tortishell ran to her mother wailing in pain from her soar scruff, she buried herself in her mothers black fur, willow fur and mouse pounce came running to check on dark furs kits for injuries, mouse pounce slowly made her way to weasel jaw who was pinned under fairy frost and thrush ear, he attempted to bite at her, she reeled back and faced clear star “weasel jaw has gone insane, he’s too much of a danger to the clan” she said scared, weasel jaw was glaring at dark fur and her kits eyes wide and angry.  
Stream tail comforted dark fur as willow fur placed a pollutes of marigold and other herbs on berry kits scruff, “it will be ok, I’m sure clear star will exile weasel jaw no way hell allow around kit let alone other cats” she said confidant in her mates wisdom, cold fur and clear star talked for a minute both talking in hushed yells, clear star finally sighed in defeat “is it possible he can recover” he asked finally, everyone was taken aback.

“um possibly but it would take moons” Willow fur mumbled, clear star nodded “then its settled he will stay in the medicine den until he recovers” both stream tail and dark fur looked wide eyed at their leader, “clear star, you can’t possibly mean that weasel jaw tried to kill innocent kits, what if he goes after another cat or worse, all the cats in the clan are in danger if he stays” clear stars mate tried to reason with him.

Clear star dipped his head “I’m sorry stream tail weasel jaw is one of our best warriors, and he is suffering from something curable, if he tries anything then he’ll be exiled I promise” clear star promised stream tail, dark star glared at clear star and tucked her still shaking kits into her fluffed up fur “how dare you let such a dangerous cat stay in the clan even after he attempted to kill his own kits” she hissed.

“not my kits, not my kits” weasel jaw hissed angrily trying to claw his way over to the she cats, fairy frost slammed all her weight into weasel jaw, “like I said dark fur weasel jaw is too important to exile” clear star said calmly, dark fur saw cold fur and seed fern were smirking by the leader den, dark fur hissed in anger “I refuse to stay in a clan were a cat can at any time harm a cat and not get punished” everyone gasped “clear star I request two warrior to help bring me and my kits to the edge of the territory” she said angrily stream tail was horrified ”dark fur you don’t mean that do you” she asked.

Clear star was surprised and looked like he wanted to argue but he just nodded his head “silver stone jade pelt help dark fur and her kits out of the territory” everyone gasped at their leader, but silver stone and jade pelt bowed their heads and walked up to dark fur and the kits, reluctantly dark fur allowed them to take one of her kits in their jaws, silver stone took crow kit and jade pelt took spotted kit, dark fur allowed berry kit to ride on her back due to their sensitive scruff.

The two grey cats led dark fur and her kits to the edge of river clan territory were no clan lived, the border was marked by thick woodland, silver stone placed crow kit down and began to speak “you can still come back dark fur, clear star will let you re-join, please don’t go” he tried to convince the black furred queen “no I cant stay silver stone, clear star is allowing a dangerous cat into our clan, as long as I stay there my kits will be in danger, I won’t stay in a clan like that” dark fur growled she walked into the woodland and her kits waddled after, with sadness in their eyes silver stone and jade pelt could only watch as she left.

Dark fur walked with long strides occasionally stopping to let her kits on the ground catch up, crow kit yawned loudly showing his small fangs and pink tongue, dark fur sighed knelt down and allowed crow kit and spotted kit to join a sleeping berry kit on her back, she carried them out of the woods and into the tall grass of a meadow they found themselves in.

Her ears flicked at the sound of the thundering crash of a waterfall nearby, she padded towards the sound knowing it meant fresh running water, she soon came upon the rushing waterfall, mist billowed out from the sheet of dark water, thirsty she lapped at the cold water, as she pulled away from the water she spotted an overhang between two cliffs by the waterfall.

She tried to look through the opening and saw a sloping piece of earth going upwards, she decided to explore and see if the area was suitable to rest their paws, she swam through the river swiftly her powerful legs propelling her through the water, she kept her back above the water making sure to keep her kits dry.

She reached the overhang in seconds, she didn’t shake her pelt out as to not wake her kits, she padded up the slope tall stone walls surrounding her, she found the slope led to the entrance of a gorge, there was a tree in the corner of the area, and a pool of water with a small ledge off to the west past the pool was more of the gorge which a winding river made a path from some source in the gorge to the waterfall.

She went wide eyed at the beauty of the area how river clan had missed such a piece of territory was beyond her, she decided to settle here and raise her kits to become warrior in this gorge, clan or no clan she would not give up her hope that star clan would see them through this trying time.


	3. chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dark furs kit see that their mom is stressed and decide to do something nice for her and crow kit finds a secret hidden in the waterfall

Chapter 1-

Dark fur huffed in exhaustion as she finished weaving the brambles together into a sturdy den wall, she turned to see her kits rolling around in the grass behind her, berry kit was yelling in triumph as she held spotted kit down, crow kit watched them with his. large Amber eyes.

She purred seeing them happy but looking around she saw that she still had more work to do to make sure their space in the gorge was safe for them, she didn't want a random cat walking into the gorge uninvited, she sighed and grabbed a bramble thicket and pulled it to the other side of her and her kits new home.

"I am berry star leader of the gorge, do you submit you rouge" berry kit asked spotted kit, her Tortishell chest fur was puffed out in pride as she held her white and orange brother down, "never" spotted kit squeaked pulling himself free from her sheathed paws, berry kit stumbled as she lost balance for a second.

"Hey that's not fair I had you fair and square" she mewed angrily, spotted kit huffed "if I was a warrior I would have shredded you by now there's no such thing as fair and square" he said orange tail flicking, the two kits readied themselves to continue play fighting each other again.

Crow kit who was still watching his litter mates fight finally got up on his large paws and padded over to his mother dark fur, "mom I'm hungry" he said rubbing his face into her sleek milk scented fur.

She turned to look at him with her narrow Amber eyes which were soft as she dipped her head to nuzzle him, "in a while crow kit, I need to finish this wall and you'll get your milk" she reassured turning back to begin weaving the wall of brambles again.

Crow kit huffed and decided he was old enough for prey now, he didn't need his moms milk, he stalked over to a pile of fresh kill his mother had hunted in advance, she was always scared to leave them alone in case they wondered off, so she hunted large amounts of prey so she could take care of them, without leaving too often for food.

He wrinkled his nose at the mostly fishy pile, he disliked fish both the smell and taste were unappetizing to him, but both his mom and his littermates loved fish meaning his mother caught mainly fish, he was lucky to find a small mouse among the scaly water prey, he bit into the little rodent relishing in the woody taste it had.

He finished off the mouse as his brother and sister finished their play fighting and began walking over to him. "You ate without us" spotted kit asked sounding upset, crown kit looked up at them, "I was hungry and mom was too busy with the brambles to feed me" crow kit told them black fur fluffing defensively, the other kits were still upset their brother had eaten without them "fine we'll just eat without you too" berry kit grabbed a crow from the pile, it's wings dragged on the dirt as she pulled it over to spotted kit and they began to eat it without him, it was really petty in his opinion he just ate after all he didn't need the crow.

Crow kit watched as they ate the bird he was named after, he looked over at his mom who was still stressing over the brambles, he got an idea that would make her very happy, he walked over to his siblings crow and pulled a pewful of its feathers from its body leaving a bald patch, his sibling looked at him weird pulling the bird away "we told you you’re not allowed to eat with us" berry kit mewed around a mouthful of crow, "I don't want the crow I want its feathers" crow kit said plucking more feathers from the bird, they stared at him more "why?" spotted kit asked finally, "I'm going to use them to make mom happy again" crow kit said white chest puffed out.

"With crow feathers?" Berry kit mewed confused, crow kit looked at them still proud "it's what I'll be making with the feathers that will make mom happy" he told them, "and what would that be?" spotted kit asked interested "a new nest" crow kit replied.

"Out of only feathers?, you must be joking" berry kit mewed getting up, they looked at her, "if we're doing this we'll need moss and some bracken fronds" she continued fluffy tail flicking, "who will get the things berry kit" spotted kit asked his larger sister, "I will pluck the rest of the feathers, crow kit will clean out the old nest and get the bracken fronds, you spotted kit will get the moss from the edge of the pool of water" berry kit said pointing her tail to the pool of still water on the other side of the clearing, the two brothers looked at each other, their sister gave her self the least taxing job.

The two signed in resignation "fine we'll do it" crow kit said, spotted kit stiffened, he didn't want to even look at the water let alone get so close to only get moss, the other two kits got to work crow kit dragged their old nest out of the bush that was their den, berry kit was plucking pewfuls of feathers from their half eaten crow, he looked over to the pool of water gingerly walking over to it there was a ledge around the pool that made it possible to walk father into the gorge, this was the first thing dark fur built a wall of brambles around, she left a small entrance to leave through for hunting and told her kits not to leave the clearing without her.

There were stones piled in the pool of water making it shallow enough so the kits could swim in it without trouble, some larger stone bordered the pool moss growing on them in clumps, he gingerly reached out a claw and pulled some moss from the rocks, he scrunched his face in disgust as the wet moss squelched under his paws, suddenly a stone under paw slipped out from under him and knocked him in the shallow pool, he screeched in panic as the water soaked into his fur.

Quick Paw steps rushed towards him and powerful jaws pulled him out of the water, his mother dark fur dropped him onto the ground and began furiously licking the water out of his pelt, he shivered, "what were you doing!" Dark fur asked her white and orange kit, spotted kit looked up at her with his Amber eyes, he didn't want to tell her about their surprise.

"I was trying to get some moss for moss ball" he lied shrinking away from his mother’s narrowed Amber gaze, her eyes softened, "the moss near the pool is no good for things like that it's too wet, try collecting the moss on the stone walls next time" his mother advised giving him one last comforting lick, before walking back to work on the bramble walls, he looked around, only then noticing the thick clumps of dry moss clinging to one of the walls of their home, he groaned at his own stupidity he got his paws wet for nothing.

Berry kit huffed as she plucked the last of the feathers from the crow, she regretted picking the most boring job, she kind of with she chose moss duty she could have had fun splashing in the pool, she decided to finish eating the crow herself, her mom would scold them to no end for wasting food, she continued to tear into the crow surrounded by its black feathers.

Crow kit was exhausted as he finished pulling his mother’s old bedding out of their little camp, the waterfall thundered angrily as he shoved the old moss into an old rabbit burrow to dispose of it he searched the land scape for bracken, he spotted a small frond of the plant poking out from a bush near the waterfalls ever flowing sheet of water.

He padded over the thundering water pounding in his ears, it was loud but calming, he clasped some of the bracken fronds in his jaws and was about to leave back into camp when he saw something behind the waterfall? he padded over to look closer.

Berry paw huffed as she and spotted kit waited for their brother to return with the bracken, for the nest they had the feathers and moss, but they wanted the bracken to make it sturdy, finally crow kit came running up the slope ferns clamped in his little jaws, "there you are slow slug, we've been waiting forever, did you forget we're making a nest for mom" berry kit asked angrily.

"It doesn't matter now we have the ferns now let's make the nest before mom finishes the bramble walls "spotted kit said hurriedly, the two older kits began weaving a nest as best they could, "but guys you wouldn't believe what I found while looking for the ferns" crow kit said, "listen we need to finish the nest, tell us later" spotted kit said weaving the feathers into his part of the nest, "yes now help us build this nest" berry kit mewed. 

Crow kit huffed but began helping them weave the nest, if they didn't want to know about his cool discovery then he would be keeping it to himself, they finished weaving the nest, they stepped back to admire their work, the nest was oblong and a bit lopsided but it was big enough to hold their mother and the three of them, at least it looked comfy and sturdy.

Dark fur's stomach growled and she decided she had done enough work on the walls today, she turned and decided to grab some prey, a trout caught her eye, she demolished it in a matter of seconds, she didn't see her kits anywhere in the clearing, she pushed her way under the bush she had made their den in and saw her kits curled up in a new strangely shaped nest filled with feathers, she smiled and tucked herself around the three of her kits, her long black tail wrapped around them.


	4. chapter 2

Chapter 2-  
Water lapped at dark furs black paws as she watched crow kit and berry kit swim happily in the shallow pool of water just outside their makeshift den, spotted kit was also watching his litter mates but from afar, scared of getting his fur wet.

Dark fur dipped her tail into the water and berry kit grabbed it lightly with her paws, dark fur gently flicked her tail and berry kit squealed in joy as she let go of her mom’s tail and was flung across the pool sending ripples as she went, she paddled back over to her mom to get another toss, but crow kit beat her there he clung to his moms slender tail and was flung away in the water by the momentum, he kicked back over with his powerful paws, he was clumsy on land but a swift swimmer in the water.

Spotted kit watched with sadness in his eyes, "come on spotted kit, the waters great" crow kit called from the pool, he was probably right the new leaf sun had made all the water warm which was the best time for fishing and swimming according to mother, his mother looked at him expectantly, but he shook his head and backed further away from the water.

he wanted to have fun with them but the thought of the water soaking into his pelt made him shiver, his fur wasn't sleek like his mothers or his siblings his was thick and fluffy perfect for soaking up water with, "good job crow kit, your swimming is excellent, and your ability to hold your breath under the water is great as well berry kit" his mother praised the other two kits.

he huffed tired of watching their fun, he decided to try and impress his mom in his own way, by going out and catching something, he snuck away while dark fur was paying attention to berry kit and crow kit, he padded quietly down the slope to the waterfall area, he hoped on the stepping stones and onto dry sturdy ground again.

He sniffed the air for prey but only caught the scent of the sweet flowers that grew around the river, he huffed and walked further away from the river, he found himself in a field of long grass with a couple trees and bushes doted around just how he liked it, he sniffed the air again and recognized a scent from the prey pile, he padded slowly towards the smell, he found a thrush pecking away at some seeds in a patch of flowers.

He leapt out of his hiding space and tried to grab the bird, but the thrush saw him and flapped its wings to take off, spotted kit tried leaping up to grab the thrush, but his tiny claws only caught some of the birds feathers, he sighed in defeat as the thrush flew higher and higher into the air letting out an alarm call.

He huffed and scented the air again, knowing the thrush had probably scared all the prey away with the call, but he caught a strange scent one he hadn't smelled in the prey pile before, it wasn't a nice smell, but it reminded him of his mother and siblings somehow, though it was strangely different much worse smelling to the watery yet earthy smell of his family.

He looked over in the smells direction and saw two green eyes peering back at him, he squealed in fear and bolted back to his home, he reached the waterfall and practically leapt across the river not caring when his back paws were soaked in the rivers water, he ran up the slope and barreled right into his frantic mother, she was just coming down the slope to look for him.

"Spotted kit where were you" she growled as she picked him up by the scruff and pulled him the rest of the way up the slope and into the bush they made their nest in, spotted kits adrenaline subsided leaving him exhausted and scared.

"I went hunting and I saw a pair of eyes watching me" spotted kit mewed as dark fur placed him Down in the nest with his worried littermate, dark fur went wide eyed "spotted kit did the thing that was watching you, follow you here" she asked tail flicking in panic.

"I don't know" spotted kit whimpered, dark furs eyes widened even further, "stay here and don't move" she said leaving the den and running down the slope, the three kits stayed silent frozen in fear, crow kit finally broke the silence "do you think moms going to be ok" the black Tom kit asked, "I don't know what if it was a fox watching spotted kit" berry kit berry kit said in fear, "it couldn't of been it smelled more like a cat" spotted kit told them.

The two gasped "what if it was a rouge or even worse a river clan cat" crow kit said, "what if it's weasel jaw coming to finish us off" berry kit mewled in fear, the usually brave kit was trying to burry herself in her mossy bed, "if it is him we can't be cowards and let him hurt mom, we should fight with her like warriors" spotted kit mewed getting out of his nest with a burst of courage.

"Your right, well help mom make sure weasel jaw never bothers us again" crow kit mewed joining his brother, berry kit though reluctant got out of the nest as well and followed her brothers down the slope, they barely heard spitting and hissing over the roar of the waterfall, they ran down the slope stopping when they saw their mother on the other side of the river standing over a pale orange Tom.

The Tom was plump and had a blue tendril around his neck, mother taught them this meant he was was a kittypet, the thing they were so scared of was a kittypet?, dark fur hissed harder at the Tom "what are you doing on my territory scaring my kits" she spat, the Tom backed away from under her paws and bowed his head, "please I didn't mean to scare your kit, but I need your help" the Tom pleaded.

"Why should I help you kittypet" dark fur hissed, "please, my sister she has kits, her twolegs are going to take her kits away from her, she needs a shelter to raise her kits" the Tom pleaded, berry kit gasped, she would of been terrified if she was taken from her mother, her brothers seemed to realize the same thing.

"No I can't trust you, you and your sister will have to find another place to shelter" dark fur growled, the Tom hung his head in dismay, spotted kit, berry kit and crow kit hopped over the river stepping stones over to their mother, they nuzzled into her fur "mom, please help them we would hate to be separate from you, so those kits wouldn't like to be away from their mom" berry kit said, the Tom seemed surprised but grateful the kits were vouching for him, “kits get back to the den and let me deal with this kittypet" dark fur said eyes still hard with anger, they flinched back, her eyes softened and she needed down to nuzzle them "I'm just trying to protect you" dark fur told them.

"My sister misty is really nice and so are her kits" the Tom tried to convince her, "well any kits are better that mottle kit and dawn kit" crow kit joked trying to lighten the mood "I wouldn't mind having some other kits to play with" spotted kit said hopefully, dark fur huffed and narrowed her eyes at the Tom "fine, but only for my kits, if you or your sister try anything I will not hesitate to claw your ears off" she growled.

"thank you so much, my name is ripely by the way" ripely said ducking his head in respect, "I'm spotted kit" spotted kit mewed, "my names berry kit" berry kit introduced herself, "crow kit" crow kit said quickly, "I am dark fur" dark fur said pushing her kits towards the slope again.

"You three go back to the den, I will bring the queen and her kits to you soon" dark fur said quietly, the kits nodded and hopped back up to their den, dark fur turned back to ripely, the orange Tom was looking at her head still bowed, "bring your sister here and I will take care of her" dark fur told him.

Ripely looked up happily and nodded he ran off to fetch his sister and her kits, dark fur sighed it would be harder now that she would have to catch prey for a kittypet and her kits, along with her own kits, but hopefully star clan would bless her enough with good hunting even though she wasn't in a clan anymore.


	5. chapter 3

Chapter 3-  
Spotted kit, berry kit and crow kit, watched as their mother lead ripely and a silver tabby up the slope and up to their den, ripely and the silver she cat known as misty were carrying two kits one a silver tabby like misty and the other a dark bluish black colored kit, they were younger than them probably only one moon old at the most.

"This is the den my kits and I sleep in, it is well protected with the stone walls and there is plenty of prey in the gorge" dark fur said to the tired looking misty, misty looked up "it's just a bush though what if it rains, and I've never had prey before I'm not a wild cat like you, anyway I don't think we can all fin in the bush" misty said around a mouth full of her blue kittens fur.

Ripely nodded "is there anywhere else that is bigger and more protected" he asked his body stiffened as dark fur glared at them, "I'm giving you shelter and food and you ask for more, I never wanted you two here in the first place, your just lucky my kits convinced me to let you stay" dark fur hissed seething.

The two kittypets looked down "I'm sorry I just want the best for my kits, you should understand right" misty said, dark fur huffed but sighed "I made this den to only hold my kits and I so it is small, I will get some brambles to expand it as soon as I can" dark fur said.

"I'll help you" ripely said, trying to get on the good side of the cat that was helping them, "we will too" dark furs kit piled out of the den wanting to help their mom, "no, you kits are still too young" dark fur said voice soft with love for her kits, they looked down sadly tails drooping, dark fur saw this and sighed "if you came along, who would take care of misty and her kits, you will be warrior one day and you can start already by protecting them and the prey pile" dark furs words made them perk up.

Misty smiled, dark fur was strict but she knew the darker queen loved her kits dearly, "don't worry mom we'll protect the new cats" berry kit stepped forward, dark fur nodded and lead ripely to the best area to collect brambles, dark furs kits turned to misty "hi I'm berry kit and These are my brothers spotted kit and crow kit" berry kit introduced holding her black and orange tail high.

Misty nodded "nice and o meet you, I'm misty and These are my kits feather and Fern" she said introducing them to her kits the silver kit was feather and the blue kit was fern they were both she cats misty explained to them, "hi feather kit and fern kit I'm crow kit" crow kit said happily, "no their names are just feather and fern, by the way, why do you three have kit at the end of your names?" misty asked.

"Oh, that's just clan tradition, when clan kits are less than six moons old we get the suffix kit, when we're six moons old we'll get the suffix paw, and when we finally become warriors we'll get a different suffix like fur, pelt, foot, wing, feather and many others" spotted kit explained.

"Clan?" Misty asked, the kits nodded "we were part of a large group of cats before, it was called river clan, but we left for reasons I don't really want to talk about" berry kit said not wanting to talk about their dad, misty nodded and shifted in her moss bed trying to get comfortable with all five of the kits.

"Um are you sure there isn't a bigger den" misty asked again, crow kit looked up "I might" he said getting up his siblings looked at him strangely not knowing what he meant, misty perked up "really?" She asked, crow kit nodded "it's my secret place and it's really big as well" he said proudly.

crow kit led misty down the slope and over to the waterfall, misty had told the other two kits to care for fern and feather even though they wanted to follow them, crow kit led her behind the waterfalls using a thick ledge, there was a cave entrance behind the water.

Misty followed crow kit inside, the cave was big and roomy with a high ceiling, stalactites were formed on the roof of the cave some connected to stalagmites on the floor making pillars, there were feathers and a couple pebbles scattered inside probably crow kits collection, and a small makeshift bed inside that crow kit must of made himself.

"This is my secret hiding space" crow kit told her, misty looked around in amassment "oh crow kit this is great" the cave was more than large enough to house her and the kits, crow kit puffed out his chest, "well tell your mother and we'll move in here soon.

The cats exited the cave and padded up the slope misty told the kits about the cave and berry kit and spotted kit were angry their brother didn't tell them about his secret spot "why didn't you tell us about the cave behind the waterfall sooner" berry kit asked, "I tried but you didn't want to hear about it" crow kit replied.

The two other kits argued but spotted kit asked misty about her kits, "why are we heir names feather and fern" he asked looking at the two smaller kits, "oh well feathers ears have little tufts of fur at the end and her tail is really fluffy like feathers, while fern has real pretty green eyes" as if to prove misty right fern opened her large green eyes to look up at spotted kit.

Dark fur and ripely returned with the brambles, dragging them up the slope, they found misty introducing her now awake kits to dark furs kits, "see feather they're only kits like you" feather hid behind her mother wile fern sniffed spotted kit cautiously, "so I see she's getting use to the area" ripely said.

Dark fur nodded dropping her brambles, she hoped misty would get used to eating prey as quickly as she got used to the thought of living in the wild, misty looked over at them "dark fur, crow kit found a place for us all to sleep while the bush den is being expanded" the silver tabby said happily.

Dark fur raised an eyebrow, "really? show me" dark fur said, misty nodded and brought her down the slope and over to the waterfall.


	6. chapter 4

Chapter 4-  
Feather wiggled her haunches and leapt across the cave, she grabbed a moss ball from berry kits paws, berry kit yelled out "my moss ball" feather continued to scoot the moss ball across the cave floor with berry kit, spotted kit and crow kit running after her for the moss ball, fern watched her sister play with the other kits with sad eyes.

Ferns back leg was crippled since birth making it hard to play like the other four kits, she hated her back leg it uselessly dragged on the floor as she walked or ran, she could not properly play like the other four.

"come on kits it's time for swimming lessons" dark fur called leading the kits with misty out of the waterfall cave, the four kits dropped the moss ball and followed their mothers out into the open, Fern groaned as she trailed behind them, swimming was another thing her back leg stopped her doing properly.

"Come on fern you can do it" misty encouraged her younger kit as they padded up the slope, the silver tabby had stayed behind to encourage her less fortunate kit, fern hated to be babied just because of her bad leg so she always told her mom to let her get up the slope herself, "I'm doing as fast as I can okay, just let me be" fern snapped in an annoyed tone of voice, misty Bowed her head in sadness and left her younger daughter to climb the slope.

By the time fern had gotten to the end of the slope dark fur, berry kit and crow kit were already in the pool of water, misty and feather were more hesitant to get in but they dipped their paws in as a start, spotted kit was sitting near the old bush den, fern sat beside him.

Spotted kit looked over at her with his Amber eyes "oh hey fern kit, your not going to swim" he asked, "it's just fern, and no if you haven't noticed already my legs crippled" fern said upset still, "oh yea sorry I kind of forgot about that" spotted kit replied, "so why aren't you swimming huh" fern mewed.

Spotted kit blushed under his pelt "well I uh um, i-I'm just scared ok" he said shuffling his white and orange paws, fern raised an eyebrow "what are you scared of its just water" the blue she cat said, "it's more of the feeling you know, the feeling of water soaking into my fur and weighing me down just makes me panic" spotted kit shivered at the thought.

"Heh you would think with all the fish you eat that you fur would of become sleek enough to repeal water" fern joked pushing spotted kits fluffy side in the side with a friendly paw, spotted kit huffed "hey you eat just as much fish as I do, don't think I don't see the way you light up when dark fur and ripely come back with trout’s" spotted kit said triumphantly.

Fern seemed surprised at first but chuckled "oh, you've been watching me huh" she said leaning on his side playfully, spotted kit sputtered "not like that!" He cried, fern laughed, suddenly the familiar scent of ripely washed over them, they looked over towards the slope to see the pale orange Tom padding up the slope his collars tag jingled as he walked.

"Uncle!" Feather called hopping out of the water to greet her kin, fern limped to meet him as well, but her mother and sister passed her and nuzzled him first, "it's so great your back, dark fur is teaching us how to swim" misty mewed.

"Have you got anything from twoleg place for me uncle" feather asked her fluffy tail swaying happily, "no, but I brought someone who you'll be happy to meet" ripely replied, feathers tail drooped, and she pouted, misty looked up "oh who came with you" misty asked head tilted.

Dark fur padded up then her kits and fern following her "you should not invite strange cats to our territory without consulting me" she told ripely, he bowed his head "sorry but he wanted to come when he heard I was going to leave two leg place visit misty and the kits" ripely shuffled his paws, dark fur huffed but nodded, fern was confused why would a cat want to come to meet them.

The two queens and their kits followed the orange Tom down the slope, feather kit was bouncing happily exited to meet this stranger, spotted kit helped fern down the slope even when she complained, "I don't need help spotted kit" she huffed, "but don't you want to meet this new cat, if we don't get down there now feather and the other kits will take all their attention" spotted kit mewed helping fern along.

The two kits finally reached the end of the slope just in time to hear misty cry out in happiness "hawk, is that really you" she said nuzzling a large dark grey tabby Tom, the Tom nuzzled her back "oh misty, I've missed you" hawk said, his green eyes were bright with happiness.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you that I was leaving two leg place" misty said apologetically, "it's ok we're together now" he replied sappily, fern and feather were weirded out by the toms affection for their mother, "um mom who is this guy" feather asked suddenly not too sure about this Tom, hawk seemed hurt and misty seemed suprised "oh, feather, fern this Tom is your father hawk don't you remember" misty said turning to her two kits, the she kits were surprised, this large intimidating Tom was their father.

Feather got exited again, "oh my gosh, this is my dad, I should have known" she bounced around her father greeting him happily, fern hung back still wary of this Tom, dark fur and her kits studied hawk still not so sure about him.

Dark fur finally spoke "So misty, this Tom is your mate" she said, misty nodded happily, dark fur still kept a wary gaze on hawk "he doesn't seem to be a kittypet is he a rouge, can we really trust him?" dark fur asked scooting crow kit behind her with a sweep of the tail, misty went wide eyed "of course you can trust him, he is a loner not a rouge and he may seem tough but he’s actually a big softie, he would never hurt anyone on purpose" misty defended her mate nuzzling into his fur, hawk blushed under his pelt at misty’s words, dark fur nodded in understanding.

"Good, tell me hawk will you be visiting from two leg place like ripely from now on" she asked the grey Tom who was also looking at her warily, "no I've already decided I will be living here with my mate and kits" hawk said.

Misty's eyes glowed with happiness "oh, hawk thank you" she nuzzled deeper into his fur, dark fur growled "you can't just decide that, this place is my home I may be providing it for misty and your kits but that dosn't give you the right to come here uninvited" dark fur growled, hawk looked over at her "ripely told me of your untrusting nature, but I assure you I will prove myself and provide for all the kits" hawk said head bowed.

Dark fur growled but thought having an able bodied cat who could hunt, meant she could spend more time in camp with her kits "fine, but you will have to learn the territory and how to hunt the prey, I will take you and ripely with me so we can practice" dark fur said.

Hawk nodded and gave misty and feather an affectionate lick, fern shied away from hawk’s affection, still unsure of him, dark fur lead ripely and hawk out of camp and over to the area she called the horse hills, a black horse was grazing on the top of the small hill its powerful body relaxed, birds swarmed the area for some reason so it was a great place to practice hunting.

trees were scarce in the area meaning the cats had to lay low in the tall grass, a thrush was pecking at some earth unaware of the dark she cat sneaking up on it, when she was close enough she leapt and caught it by the neck, she killed it and carried it over to the toms, "that was a proper hunting crouch, but if the bird had spotted me I would of had to leap in the air and brought it down" she explained.

The two toms nodded, "can I try" ripely asked his orange pelt glowing gold in the sunlight, dark fur nodded, ripely got into a hunting crouch like dark furs and stalked forward, a crow had made the mistake of catching his eye, it was happily preening itself below a windblown heather bush, he suddenly leapt out of the tall grass, the crow flew up wings flapping frantically to escape, ripely leapt up and caught the black avian's wings with his claw, the bird squawked loudly as he dragged it down and killed it quickly with a claw to the throat.

Dark fur and hawk padded over to him dark fur stared at the bird "Hm the bird almost escaped, but your leap was good enough to save the catch, but it's alarm call will have most likely scared all other prey in this area way, so we should move to another part of the territory" she told him, hawk and ripely nodded.

They followed the pitch black she cat towards another part of the territory, an area with more cover, hawk looked over at his mates brother "since when did you learn to hunt" hawk asked the light ginger Tom, "oh when I came over to visit misty, dark fur thought I should learn to hunt so I could provide for the kits whenever I came over" ripely replied.

Hawk seemed surprised that the orange Tom had been trained by the dark queen, dark fur didn't seem like the type to have the patience for a cat like ripely, "look there's a rabbit" dark fur said stopping to point out the brown creature with her long tail.

The toms studied the rabbit, it was hopping across the ground, "rabbits are tricky prey, it can hear you from a mile away, the best approach is to bolt after them with two or more cats that way they won't be able to escape" dark fur told them.

"Seems like a lot of trouble for one piece of prey" hawk snorted, "the trouble is worth it, that rabbit will feed all the kits if we catch it" dark fur replied, "then what are we waiting for, let's catch it" ripely said, the three cats bolted from their spot the rabbit saw them and turned tail and ran.

The cats persuade the rabbit branching out to block its escape at every turn, hawk soon got close enough to leap, his powerful claws dug into the rabbit’s plush fur, he bent down and snapped the struggling rabbit’s neck, "good job" dark fur panted as she caught up to the grey tabby.

"Do you think we have enough for the kits" ripely asked, "yes the thrush, the crow and rabbit are more than enough" dark fur said, hawk carried the rabbit while dark fur and ripely carried their birds, the they padded across the stepping stones and towards the waterfall cave prey still warm in their jaws.


	7. chapter 5

Chapter-5

Hawk fell to the ground in mock defeat, feather laughed as she hopped on her large fathers back, "I feather have defeated you fox, I’m the ruler of the gorge" the silver she cat called, "be quiet feather I'm trying to sleep" fern called angrily as she peeked her blue grey head over her nests edge.

"We're just playing" feather said tail head high, "I don't care, just don't start yelling when cats are trying to rest" fern growled pulling her head bark into her mossy nest, feather huffed, "I was just playing, she has no right to tell me what to do" feather finally stepped off her father’s grey body.

Hawk got up "I must be going now feather, we need more food" he told his daughter, "aw, but I want to play more" feather said with large blue eyes sad, hawk shook his head and padded out of the cave entrance.

Dark fur was sprawled out in the sunlight asleep, spotted kit, berry kit and crow kit were all playing with a moss ball, he watched with his leaf green eyes for a moment but turned his mind back to the task. At hand, hunting was his top priority at the moment, he exited camp and sniffed the air, he crouched when he caught the scent of mouse the small grey creature was unaware of his presence up until he landed on it and Killed it in a swift motion.

Hawk buried the mouse in the ground for later, He sniffed the air for more prey but wrinkled his nose as a putrid stench hit his nostrils, his eyes widened as he recognized the overpowering stench of dog, he began to panic but relished there were another scent mixed with the stench.

Cats Blood was mixed with the terrifying scent of dog, he ran through the bushes towards the irony smell, his heart raced as he heard the sound of a cat moaning in agony, he breached the bushes and yowled in surprise when he saw ripely attempting to drag himself in the direction of the water fall.

"Ripely! What happened" hawk asked running to the orange tabbies’ side, "do-dog" ripely stuttered, he Finally collapsed in pain, hawk grabbed Ripely's scruff carrying him back towards the waterfall.

Hawk called out the best he could around Ripely's orange fur, dark fur and misty came running to see what was wrong, misty gasped seeing her injured brother being carried by her mate towards her, "hawk what happened!" Dark fur asked sternly examining Ripely's injuries.

The orange tabbies’ hip and shoulder had a deep bite mark and he was gasping shallowly from shock, dark fur thought quickly on what to do, misty was wailing as she tried using her tongue to try and stop her brothers bleeding, the five kits came out of the cave to see what was going on.

Fern gasped as she saw her uncle lying on the ground bite marks littering his body, feather was frozen in terror, fern ran with dark furs kits to try help misty with the bleeding, "golden rod and cobwebs" dark fur suddenly said, "what?" hawk asked as he tried to comfort his mate.

"Back in the clan I saw mouse pounce use golden rod help heal silver stones wounds after a battle, then she used cobwebs to help stop the bleeding, if we can find some of them it might save ripely" dark fur explained, fern looked up "I'll help search for golden rod" the blue she cat called suddenly.

Misty cried out "you can't, what about your bad leg" fern whipped around to look at her mother "I need to do this, Ripely's life is at stake, dark fur knows what the plants look like so I'll help her collect them while you collect the cobwebs" she called.

Spotted kit joined fern and his mother’s side "I'll help too" dark fur nodded and ran with the two kits following her as best as they could, fern went as fast as she could ignoring her limp foot dragging in the grass, "from what I remember mouse pounce said goldenrod grows in wooded areas" dark fur said.

"So the woodland then" fern said remembering ripely saying they had caught a squirrel in that area before, dark fur nodded, soon the clear fields they ran in were replaced by scarce bushes and oak trees, fern sniffed the air hopping to catch the scent of any strange plants that could be golden rods.

"Is this golden rod?" Spotted kit asked holding a cluster of small yellow flowers in his jaws, fern raised an eyebrow she had no medicine knowledge and even she those were just dandelions, "no those are just dandelions spotted kit" dark fur reprimanded, spotted kit looked down in shame, "but they aren't useless if I remember correctly, their leaf’s can act as a pain killer" dark fur said, spotted kit perked back up.

"But we still need to find golden rod or else uncle will die" fern said panicked, dark fur nodded and continued to look for the golden herb, suddenly fern felt as if something was pulling her in a certain direction, she allowed the feeling to lead her to a un-noteworthy bush, she pulled a part of the branches away from the bush, and hidden in the green leaves was a large golden plant, "I think I found it" she called dark fur and spotted kit came running.

Dark fur nodded "this is it, great job fern" the dark she cat praised, fern nodded in pride, they grabbed as much as they could carry which for the kits wasn't a lot, the carried the plant back to the waterfall, they sped up when they saw ripely body still lying in the open with misty, hawk and the other kits around him trying to apply cobwebs to his wounds.

"Is he still bleeding" dark fur asked dropping her golden rod to examine the orange tabbies’ wounds, "only his leg is bleeding still, it seems to have the worst wound" hawk explained, feather attempted to dab more cobwebs onto the bite wound on Ripley’s hip, the blood instantly soaked through the webs dying them red.

"The blood won't stop" feather cried in frustration, dark fur seemed to not know what to do next 'apply pressure to the wound with cobwebs' fern heard a quiet voice say, she whipped around, no one other than the cats and the kits was around.

Fern turned back around and spotted that there was a couple cobwebs left, she ran over "can I try" she asked, dark fur nodded she had no other idea on how to stop the bleeding, fern pressed the bundled wed onto the bite wound the blood began to soak the web but she kept it pressed, she didn't take the web from the wound until 'the bleeding has stopped now, apply the golden rod' the same voice from before said, she flicked her ears in acknowledgement and released the wed.

The wound was still bloody, but it had stopped bleeding for now, "alright I think we can apply the golden rod now" fern said stepping away from ripely, misty grabbed one of the golden rod flowers and placed it on ripely wounds stalk and all.

'She's doing it wrong, chew up the flower into a poultice and apply it to the wounds' the voice said again, "I think we're supposed to chew them up before putting them on the wounds" fern remarked to her mother, misty looked down at her quizzically, dark fur nodded "she's right, that's what the medicine cat did back at the clan" she said, misty and dark fur chewed the golden rods and began to apply the poultice to Ripely's wounds.

They pulled back once they had finished, gingerly misty wrapped cobwebs around his brother wounds, "I think that's all we can do at such short notice" dark fur said, "will he really be okay" misty asked, "we can only wait" hawk replied comforting the silver tabby, dark fur looked at the kits, "you five should get to your nests, we'll take care of ripely" she said flicking her tail.

Crow kit shook his head "we want to help too" he said, berry kit and feather nodded in agreement, fern and spotted kit weren't too sure they wanted to stay, "kits just go to bed, this is adult business" hawk said.

The kits huffed but made their way behind the water fall to their nests, feather snuggled up against fern "will uncle really be okay" the silver kit asked, "I-I don't know" fern confessed, "I wish I could of done more" fern continued, "you did a lot you stopped the bleeding and helped with the golden rod flowers" feather replied.

Fern sighed and thought it over, if she had a working leg she could of ran for more cobwebs or her mom wouldn't second guess her all the time, the blue grey kit fell into a restless sleep, "fern kit wake up' a paw prodded her side lightly.

"It's just fern" fern said groggily, opening her eyes to see who had woken her up, she gasped seeing a un-familiar white Tom standing over her nest, she shook feather and called out "help there's a strange cat in the den", the white Tom sighed, "this only a dream" he said.

"A dream? Do you think I'm a idi-" fern gasped seeing the toms white fur was see through and starry, "yes a dream, my name is mallow mist, I'm here to help you" he explained, "help? With what?" Fern asked.

"Follow me" mallow mist led Fern out of her nest and out of the waterfall cave, Fern realizing her leg wasn't giving her trouble and she was actually running, "my-my leg" she gasped, "yes, while dreaming with star clan your disability's can't trouble you, I was actually blind in one eye once" mallow mist explained.

"Once? And what’s starclan?" Fern asked confused, mallow mist ignored her and stopped, "look over there" he said pointing a tail over at dark fur, misty and hawk who were gathered around Ripely's sleeping form, his chest was rising slowly and shallowly, "he'll wake up soon then we'll move him" dark fur said, "why not now" Hawk asked.

"If we move him now it might risk opening his wounds again" dark fur explained, "she's right you know, if he gets moved wile asleep they will more than likely reopen his bite wounds" mallow mist said, "why not tell them then" Fern asked, "they don't have, the ability to hear me like you do" mallow mist said, "wait a minute, it was you who was telling me what to do with the cobwebs wasn't it" Fern yelled.

"Yes, and I'm going to tell you what to do again, the golden rod will only heal Ripely's wounds, he's still under threat of infection and that will mean certain death for him" mallow mist said, Fern gasped "what do we do" she asked, "horse tail" mallow mist said, "horse tail?, you mean we need the tail of the giant creatures dark fur told us about" Fern asked.

"No, no we need a horse tail plant" mallow flame reiterated, "and they will stop any infections in uncles bites" Fern asked, mallow mist nodded, "alright we're do we find them" Fern asked, mallow mist beckoned her to follow him with his tail, he led her past the adult cats who didn't seem to notice either of them, mallow mist lead her up the slope.

She ran all four of her legs working to keep up with the sleek white Tom, he lead her past the practicing pool and old den and further into the gorge, "where do horsetails grow" Fern asked, "watery or marshy areas, they look like reeds but grow wildly like weeds so it's good to have a large amount on hand" mallow mist rambled.

Fern listened to the strange toms rambling as she searched for the horse tail, "we should probably find some catch weed for good measure, oh and poppy seed definitely poppy seeds that will let him sleep off the pain" mallow mist continued rambling about herbs, Fern finally spotted a cluster of what she assumed was horse tail up ahead, "is that the horse tail" she asked running to the large reed like plant.

"That's it alright, and there's some Poppy's real close so ripely will be just fine, no catch weed though, I guess you could just reapply the golden rod and horsetail" mellow mist said, "let's bring it back to the waterfall then" Fern said happily, "we can't" mallow mist said, "why not" Fern said, "my job is to only show you what you need, this is only a dream remember" mallow mist said, Fern cried out as the world seemed to melt away around her she seemed to fall into a spinning desent into nothingness.

She awoke gasping in fear, feather bolted up when she heard ferns gasping, "what's wrong" her sister asked, "I-i need to get some stuff from the gorge" Fern said scrambling out of the nest, feather followed asking questions all the way "can I come, what are you looking for, I can help" Fern ignored her making a beeline to dark fur, the sun was rising now, the adult cats were shivering from cold and looking tired as they crowded around ripely trying to keep him warm.

"Dark fur I need your help getting somethings from the gorge" Fern said out of breath, "Fern I need to stay for when ripely wakes up, can you get whatever you need with feather" the dark she cat said, "no, I need your help as well, I need someone big to carry the horse tail plants" Fern said, "horse tail plants, Fern what do you need with those" misty asked.

"They're not for me there for ripely" Fern said calmly, "why would he need them" dark fur asked, "they're so his wounds don't get infected, also we need poppy seed, they'll help him sleep off pain" Fern said, the cat’s eyes widened in surprise, "Fern how do you know all of this" hawk asked.

"It will sound weird, but I had a dream" the grey she cat said, hawk, misty and feathers eyebrows quirked up, but dark furs eyes widened in surprise "what was it about" dark fur asked quickly, "a white cat named mallow mist showed me were to find the herbs he also told me what they did" she explained.

"Mallow mist!" Dark fur said surprised, "who's mallow mist?" Feather asked, "he was river clans medicine cat before willow fur and mouse pounce, he died while I was an apprentice" dark fur said, "a ghost told my daughter how to help ripely?" Hawk asked skeptically, mist seemed surprised as well "if These herbs can help my brother then I'll be happy to take them, even if a ghost told my daughter to collect them" misty said hopefully.

"I'll go help her collect them, this must be a sign from star clan" dark fur whispered the last part to herself, but fern caught the words ‘that’s he second time someone mentioned star clan’ fern thought she led dark fur up the slope' feather followed them wanting to see if the ghost of mallow mist was right, "what do the herbs look like" feather asked dark fur curiously, "I don't know, I'm not a medicine cat, I don't have any herbal knowledge, you'll have to ask your sister" dark fur said, "the horsetail is like reeds but a little different, poppy seeds are just the seeds of a poppy flower" Fern said.

Fern led them to the area mallow mist had led her, the horse tail was still by the river just as she had dreamed, "this is it, let's gather as much as we can, also we need at least one poppy flower" Fern said excitedly, feather nipped the stem of a couple of Poppy's taking them in her white jaws, dark fur carried most of the horsetail while Fern carried her own bundle.

Feather was still weirded out that a ghost talked to her sister, dark fur on the other hand wonder what a star clan cat visiting Fern meant, was the blue kit meant to be a medicine cat? But fern had no clan was she meant to join one? What did this mean for the other cats of the gorge.

They padded down the slope with the herbs clenched in their jaws, there was a wail of pain from the clearing, they ran as fast as they could to the clearing, ripely was writhing in pain and misty was trying to calm him down hawk didn't seem to know what to do "we have the herbs" dark fur said dropping them next to hawk.

"someone please, it hurts" ripely was gasping in pain and writhing on the ground, "it's okay we have poppy seeds to help your pain" feather said offering the plant to him, Fern quickly grabbed the poppy out of feathers reach and shook the seeds out first, she pushed three of them towards him, "he should only eat the seeds" she explained to her sister, ripely quickly lapped up the seeds, "now we need to apply the horse tail, ripely stay still" dark fur said as she began to chew one of the horse tail plants, Fern began to chew her own poultice of horsetail with some of the golden rod they had collected before, dark fur removed the cobwebs ripely had accidentally reopened the wound on his leg while writhing.

Luckily he had calmed down thanks to the poppy seeds, allowing Fern to reapply the poultice, dark fur applied her own herbs onto ripely shoulder wound, ripely hissed quietly in pain but rested his head on the grass of the clearing, the two cats finished re wrapping his wounds with cobwebs again and began to ask him questions "ripely do you remember what happened to you, hawk said he smelled dogs when he found you" dark fur asked him.

Ripely yawned "my two-leg brought a dog into the house, it attacked me and I barely escaped, I tried to run here for help but I collapsed before I got here" ripely explained yawning again and snuggling into the grass tiredly, "ripely we need you to walk with us to the den and then you can rest" misty said trying to get her ginger brother to his feet.

Ripely groaned but allowed misty and hawk to walk him into the waterfall cave, dark fur Fern and feather trailed behind them, dark fur looked over at Fern "Fern I think we need to talk about your dream" Fern nodded.


	8. chapter 6

Chapter 6-

Ripely hissed in pain as Fern un-wrapped his leg, "from what I see your leg looks pretty much healed" Fern commented, ripely nodded and sat up in his nest, "is it just me or is the cave getting small" ripely asked, hawk who was finishing of a pigeon looked over at him "you are right, the cave is getting too small for all of us, especially with still growing kits" the grey Tom sniffed.

Misty looked up from her grooming of feather "what do you suggest we do about the room problem?" she asked, "we'll just ask dark fur when she returns from hunting" ripely suggested, Fern sighed as she decided to leave the adult cats to their business.

She padded out of the water fall cave and decided to go looking for herbs many some sweet sedge, mallow mist had told her it was good for easing infection, 'you never know when a cut would get infected' he had told her, she sighed leaf fall was coming and she needed as many herbs as she could carry.

She began to pad up the slope that led to the entrance of the gorge, she hated having to walk up the slope nearly every day, "hey Fern where are you going" a peppy voice asked from behind her, she turned and saw berry kit, the tortoiseshell she cat was bouncing up behind her.

"I'm going into the gorge to search for sweet sedge" Fern said turning back, berry kit continued to follow her "oh is that one of your herbs, what's it do" she asked green eyes full of curiosity, "it eases infection, I'm collecting it in case of emergency" the blue kit said finally entering the gorge, "oh why don't we collect a herb that makes catching prey simple" berry kit suggested, Fern had to do a double take, was berry kit serious.

Fern finally sighed "you think if a herb like that actually existed, all the cats in the world wouldn't use it" she told the tortoiseshell, berry kit cocked her head "I guess you’re right, and then there would be no prey left for us" she said, Fern rolled her eyes.

There was a splash from the river next to them, berry kit looked over "look a fish" she said excitedly, Fern sighed again "yes fish live in water berry kit, please just focus on helping me find the sweet sedge" Fern sighed, "I'm going to catch it" berry kit said suddenly, "you do th- wait what!" Fern said turning just in time to see berry kit jump into the water where they had seen the fish.

"Berry kit!" Fern cried, she didn't know what to do she couldn't swim so jumping in to save her was out of the question, how was she going to explained this to everyone, dark fur would kill her, suddenly berry kits black and orange head breeches the water a minnow in her tiny jaws, berry kit kicked with powerful legs back onto the shore.

Fern jumped back in surprise as berry kit shook her wet fur out "see I told you I could catch it" the tortoiseshell mewed showing off her minnow, Fern recovered from her shock and cuffed the other kit's ears with sheathed paws in anger "ow" berry kit squealed, "never do that again" Fern growled, "why I always go swimming" berry kit said, "not when there's no adults nearby, I thought you had drowned" Fern confessed.

"Aw, you were worried for me" berry kit said, "so what" Fern huffed turning and walking away, berry kit followed, the sweet syrupy smell of the sweet sedge hit Fern nose "the sweet sedge is around here" Fern said searching for the reed like herb, she found the sweet herb among some common reeds.

She plucked the stems carrying a couple in her mouth, her small jaws were full of the sweet sedge, she mumbled around them to tell berry kit to follow her, berry kit was carrying her minnow and Fern was carrying her sweet sedge, they padded through the gorge, a trickle of rain began to fall, the trickle soon became a down pour, rain battered their soft kitten pelts.

They quickly ran down the slope and into the clearing, ferns leg gave her trouble but she ignored it wanting to get out of the rain as soon as possible, they bolted into the cave, dark fur, misty, hawk and ripely looked over to them "where were you" dark fur asked sternly, running over to them, "um, we were fetching herbs" berry kit said, "then why is there a minnow in your jaws, it seems like you were hunting to me" dark fur said stalking towards her daughter angrily, berry kit looked down in shame, dark fur began to angrily groom berry kit.

Misty walked over to her own daughter, please never do that again, you really worried me" the silver she cat cried snuggling ferns wet fur, misty began licking ferns fur like dark fur was doing but more gently, when the two queens were done grooming them berry kits fur was spiked up and ferns was dry and smooth, the two kits walked over to their siblings.

Spotted kit and crow kit laughed at their sisters fur, "so did you enjoy hunting" crow kit said, berry kit glared at him, lightning struck outside causing all the kits to Yelp, hawk looked up, "that lightning struck very close to the cave" he said, "should we be worried what is a fire starts because of the Lightning" ripely asked, the kits began to shake in fear scared of the thought of fire, "no, no we have nothing to worry about, the rain would put out any fire" misty reassured them.

Dark fur looked around for something to distract the kits with, she spotted an opening hidden by a boulder at the other side of the cave "hey why don't we explore the other part of the cave" she said pointing her tail over at the entrance, hawk helped dark fur move the boulder out of the way of the entrance of what seemed to be a tunnel that led into darkness.

"Is this really a good idea" misty asked eyeing the darkness, "it may lead to a larger cave" hawk said, "I will go in myself and find out" dark fur said stepping forward, "I'll go too" spotted kit mewed, crow kit and feather kit weren't as enthusiastic as the other kits to explore the tunnel, "I will as well" Fern added not caring about her mother’s protests "me too" berry kit said, "no not you berry kit you’re going to stay here with misty, crow kit and feather" dark fur said flicking her tail towards the other queen and kits.

Berry kit gawked "what no I want to explore the tunnels too" she said, "later when you learn not to run off without telling anyone you’ll get to explore all you want" dark fur said, she led spotted kit and Fern into the darkness of the tunnel, it was surprisingly wide and it was a strait tunnel no branching paths so she felt safe knowing the kits wouldn't get lost, there was the smell of cold fresh water up ahead, the tunnel soon opened up into a bright white cave.

A large stalactite was hanging from the ceiling, it was glowing bright white and water occasionally dripped down from it into a small pool of water, the cave walls were smooth with no tunnels, other smaller grey stalactite were hanging from the ceiling, there were also many stalagmites on the cave floor, some connected to stalactites making pillars, dark fur stared in amazement, the kits behind her started to ask questions and tried to push past her.

"What's wrong" spotted kit asked, "is there a cave in there" Fern asked as well, "oh is it large" spotted kit continued, dark fur finally moved into the cave letting the kits come into the cave, spotted kit seemed upset seeing all the stalagmites on the floor "ah man there's barely any room on the floor for nests" he said, Fern and dark fur were staring at the glowing stalactite again.

"Guys" spotted kit said, he knew the stalactite was pretty, but it was only a rock, suddenly there was another loud crash of thunder and lightning, afterwards the heard another loud crash from back towards the waterfall, they ran back through the tunnel, the other cats weren't in the cave, but they heard voices coming from outside the cave.

They padded out cautiously, they gasped seeing a large part of the rock wall had fallen from the cliff face in the clearing, prices of rock and dirt were everywhere, a charred lightning struck tree was smoking among the rubble its trunk stretched across the river that split the clearing, "what happened" dark fur shouted over the roar of the water fall and rain, "the lightning hit a tree and knocked the tree down the cliff with some rocks" ripely said.

The cats made their way back into the cave silently, they all seemed shaken, but berry kit jumped up remembering the other tunnel, "oh what was in the tunnel did you find anything cool" she asked, "yes and no, the cave we found was too full of stalagmites and stalagmites, but one of the stalactites glowed which was cool" spotted kit commented to her, berry kit gasped in excitement "like the moon pool" she asked, dark fur nodded in confirmation, "what's a moon pool?" Fern asked, "the moon pool is where the medicine cats of the clan gathered at the full moon to speak with our warrior ancestors and gain prophesies" dark fur explained.

Crow kit jumped up "maybe it's star clans way of saying we're a clan, and that me spotted kit and berry kit should be apprenticed" he said hopefully, dark fur looked at him and only then realized how big her kits were, they were reaching the age of six moons and they were certainly strong enough for apprenticeship, she sighed "your right you should be apprenticed, but I do not have the authority to apprentice you, and any way you would require mentors, this isn't even a clan in the first place" she rambled.

"I wouldn't mind mentoring them" ripely said, his rippling ginger pelt was glowing in the small amount of light in the cave, his kittypet fat was replaced by muscle from moons of hunting, hawk stepped forward as well "I wouldn't mind either, you have helped my kits so it's only right I help yours" hawk said head held high, "I may not be able to mentor your kits for obvious reasons but this clan thing seems safe enough so I wouldn't mind becoming part of one and learning their ways" misty said licking her chest in embarrassment.

Dark fur seemed surprised "thank you everyone, if it is okay I would like to give you all warrior names" they all nodded, dark fur leapt onto a slightly raised rock in the cave "ripely from this moment on you will be known as ripple flame" she called ripple flame nodded, "misty and hawk from this moment on you two will be known as misty petal and hawk wind" she said, the silver and grey tabbies nodded and their kits stepped forward "Fern and feather from this moment on you shall be known as Fern kit and feather kit" she finished.

The cat all yowled in happiness, dark furs own kits were waiting impatiently for their own ceremony, "spotted kit, berry kit and crow kit, you have reached the age of six moons old and it is time for you to be apprenticed, from this day onward until you gain your warrior name, you will be known as spotted paw, berry paw and crow paw, your mentors will be ripple flame and hawk wind, spotted paw I will mentor you myself" she called, she walked over and touched noses with spotted paw, hawk wind and ripple flame seemed confused on what to do next.

"touch noses with your apprentice" dark fur said, the two nodded and leaned down to touch their noses to their new apprentices, "now we all call out the names of our new apprentices" the cats all nodded "spotted paw, berry paw, crow paw, spotted paw, berry paw, crow paw" they all called, dark fur smiled it was almost like a real clan.


	9. chapter 7

Chapter 7-

Berry paw fluffed up her pelt to look bigger, but crow paw still had his height and weight advantage in this battle, "alright try the front paw swipe again crow paw" hawk wind called, crow paw looked back at his mentor "again! I've done it like five time already" he complained "just for that sass you’re not moving on from that battle move until you master it" hawk wind replied.

Berry paw took the opportunity to dart forward and deal her own front paw strike, "ow, hey I wasn't ready" crow paw yelled, ripple flame seemed proud of his apprentice "good job berry paw, take any chance you have against your opponent" he praised her.

"can I fight now" spotted paw asked from beside his mentor and mother, she looked down at him and nodded, "berry paw, switch places with spotted paw for battle practice" dark fur called, the tortoiseshell huffed but joined her mentors side again, ripple flame tried to cheer his apprentice up "hey dark fur should I take berry paw to patrol the borders with me" he called.

The black she cat looked over to him "fine, but only the safer borders by yourself, we'll join you later on" she called back, ripple flame nodded he and his apprentice padded off into the fields, "so are we going into two-leg place, are we going to fight kitty-pets" berry paw asked, ripple flame laughed " it's a border patrol not a battle patrol, and no we will only attack a kitty-pet if absolutely necessary" the ginger Tom said.

"Aw man, wait weren't you a kitty-pet, what was it like in two-leg place" berry paw asked, "for the most part good, lots of warm bedding protection from weather, but it had its dangers as well, dog and monsters around every corner, restricted freedom by the two-legs and the food tastes terrible nothing like the fresh kill we hunt" ripple flame told her, "is that why you left to join us by the waterfall" berry paw tilted her head, "mostly, but also because the two-legs brought a dog into the den and it attacked me, remember when I was brought into camp with those bite wounds" he asked.

"yep, Fern kit went out of her way to get you herbs" berry paw replied, "that was all a dog attack, but only a small dog, if it were larger it would of torn me to pieces" he said, berry paw flinched are there super large dogs in two-leg place" berry paw asked "yup one lived down from where I used to live, giant it was" he said, "how can any cat live with giant dogs and monsters?" berry kit asked, "some do it for the protection the two-legs provide, but some cats live without two-legs in the two-leg place, rouges and loners, no one really understands them" ripple flame said.

"They’re still better off than with the stinky two-legs, also wasn't hawk wind a loner and misty petal liked him" berry paw said, "not going to lie when I first met hawk wind, I was terrified of him, but misty petal loved him dearly, and then before I knew it they had kits on the way" flame ripple said, "whoa, just like that, hm, many ill find a nice loner to fall in love with" berry paw joked, "dark fur would kill me if you ran off with a loner" he said.

The putrid smell of two-legs and monsters hit berry paws nose causing her nose to wrinkle in disgust "ew that smells terrible" she said, ripple flame was also disgusted by the smell "it seems I've gotten so used to the wild smells the smells hitting me as well" he gasped, "I don't want to go into two-leg place anymore, if this is the border stench then I don't want to smell the inside of the place" berry paw said, when they adjusted to the smell they began to mark the border as quick as possible to escape the smell, 'mew' ripple flames ear perked up "berry paw did you say something" he asked, "no why" she replied, 'mew' there it was again this time berry paws ears pricked up as well.

"Did you hear that?" He asked her, "yea it's like a kit calling for help" berry paw said, it was like when feather kit and Fern kit were very young and would call out for misty petal, "I think it’s a kit!" Ripple flame said, "but why is it coming from inside our border" berry paw asked, "there's only one way to find out" ripple flame said stalking towards the sounds, berry paw hopped ahead excited to see what it could be, a rouge queen or a kitty-pet who wanted help raising her kit or maybe an evil cat trying to steal kits, she didn't know but she would find out.  
she would of missed the place the mews were coming from if one hadn't sounded from a tree she had just passed, she pulled the bushes away from the tree and could barely see anything let alone fit in the small space the branches intertwined to make, but there were two small shape curled in the roots of the tree, she gasped why would a mother put her kits in such an uncomfortable and hard to reach place, ripple flame finally found her, halfway in the bushes, "berry paw what are you doing" the ginger Tom asked, "I'm trying to reach the kits" she replied pulling her body back out of the bushes to face him, leaf’s were sticking to her pelt.

He peeked into the bushes and squinted his eyes, he also made out the shapes of two kits in the tree roots, "what should we do ripple flame, I tried reaching them but I'm too big" berry paw said, ripple flame thought, berry paw run back to dark furs group tell them we need to get camp misty petal over hear, I'll stay here and make sure the kits stay safe" he said.

Berry paw ran as fast as her legs could carry her back towards the rest of the camp, thoughts flying through her head, would the kits be alright, would misty petal be able to help them, what mother abandons her kits like that, soon the tortoiseshell burst through the bushes of the area the rest of the cats were training in, they all whipped around to face her "trapped kits, need misty petal" she gasped out.

"What?" hawk wind asked, not understanding why berry paw need his mate, berry paw finally caught her breath "there are kits stuck in my the roots of a tree back near two-leg place" she said green eyes wide, dark furs eyes widened, she began to call out orders "hawk wind, crow paw go back to camp and fetch misty petal, berry paw lead the rest of us to the kits" dark fur said, hawk wind and his apprentice ran back to camp, while berry paw led her mother and brother towards the kits direction.

When they arrived ripple flame was trying to coax out the kittens, dark fur pushed past him to see the kits with her own eyes, "there seems to be only two, I can barely smell their mother’s milk on them" she said angrily "so their mother really abandoned them then" ripple flame said sadly, dark fur nodded, "spotted paw find hawk winds and misty petal and bring them here" she commanded her son.

Spotted paw bolted in the direction they came, dark fur looked back into the place the kit were stuck in, "so what's your plan with misty petal to get the kits free" berry paw asked her mentor, "oh, well I'm hoping that when the kits smell her milk they'll come out to get fed" ripple flame said, "oh are they going to join the clan as well" berry paw asked, dark fur pulled out of the bushes "most likely, the mother didn't seem to want them" ripple flame said, dark fur nodded "we'll have misty petal ween them on her milk until they can eat solid prey and if they want they can become apprentices and then warriors" dark fur suggested, "their mom better hope she never meets me, because doing this to kits is inexcusable" berry paw hissed.

'mew, mew' the kittens began to cry, the milky scent of misty petal began to flood the area, "they must smell misty petal already" berry paw commented, "they must be starving then" ripple flame replied, soon the silver tabby came into sight spotted paw leading her over to them, 'mew' the kits called, misty petal without saying a word lay on her side in front of the bushes, not long after a tiny brown head peeked out of the leaf’s and the first kit made its way over to misty petal, soon enough a second kit this time a ginger and brown kit followed their sibling over to misty petal and the two began suckling.

Dark fur checked that no other kits were in the bushes, "that's both of them" she called, misty purred and lapped the twos fur like they were her own kits, "let's take them back to camp" ripple flame said, misty petal carried the spiky furred brown kit and dark fur carried the light ginger and brown patched kit, the two were led by ripple flame and the two apprentices back to camp, "this is so exiting two new kittens are part of the clan now" berry paw said to her brother, "yea I can't wait till they start to speak" spotted paw replied.

The brown kit was twisting in misty petals jaws angry as it mewled for more milk, dark furs kit seemed to content to be carried to safety, soon the familiar sound of the water fall pounded in their ears, hawk wind and crow paw, we're waiting for them with Fern kit and feather kit, feather kit gasped "are those the new kit "she squealed" her mother gently placed the brown kit onto the ground, "yes, we found them in the bushes abandoned by their mother" dark fur said placing her own kit beside its litter mate, "I've already decided, hawk wind I want to Forster them" hawk wind seemed hesitant.

"What about our own kits will they have enough milk if These kits take all of it" he asked, feather kit huffed "I'm all big now, I'll eat only prey now no milk" she said, Fern kit agreed with her sister "I'm willing to give up my share of milk and eat prey from now on, I will also collect some borage leaf’s to help keep moms milk up" Fern kit said, hawk wind sighed but agreed to let his mate nurse the stray kits.

"Let's see, the brown kit is a Tom and the ginger and brown kit is a she cat" dark fur said, "great all they need now are names" ripple flame said, feather kit jumped up "oh the she cat should be bird kit, because her pelt is multicolored like a bird I saw once" Feather kit said chest puffed out, Fern kit looked over at the Tom "his name will be bracken kit, he has spiky fur like a bracken Fern" the blue kit suggested, "bird kit and bracken kit" dark fur said the new kits names, they mewled happily "they seemed to like their names" crow paw laughed, "welcome to the clan little guys" ripple flame said affectionately.


	10. chapter 8

Chapter 8-

Sunlight glared through the sheet of water that protected the cave from prying eyes waking dark fur from her slumber she groaned and got to her paws, she began to groom herself her tongue rasped across her pitch black fur, afterwards she looked around at her clan mates, the apprentices were all still asleep, misty petal and her four kits weren't in the nest or anywhere in the cave meaning they must of been out in the clearing. 

hawk wind and ripple flame could just barley be heard talking just outside the cave, she padded out of the den, squinting her eyes against the green leaf Suns glare, ripple flame and hawk wind where clearing rubble from the storm a moon ago, most of the clearing was clear but the area closes to the cliff face were still covered in large amounts of rubble and rock.

The burnt tree that had fallen was now being used as a bridge to cross the water, she walked over to the two toms, "do you require assistance" she asked narrow Amber eyes scanning the rubble the toms were moving out of camp, "yes your help would really be appreciated" hawk wind said pushing another pile of rubble towards the clans entrance with a large grey paw, dark fur began to help ripple flame make another small pile of rubble to take out of camp, "keep making more piles were almost to the cliff face" the ginger tabby said pushing his own pile out of the entrance.

Dark furs pelt was covered in dust and debris making her look a dark grey instead of black, misty petal came down the slope with her four kits, feather kit and bracken kit hopped over to dark her pulling themselves onto the dirt pile she had just made, "kits" misty petal cried out, the two ignored her "can we help" bracken kit asked, his brown fur was already somehow covered in dirt.

"No, now go back to your mother you two" dark fur said continuing to dig into the rubble, with a dust stained paw, the kits protested but their mothers cries for them finally got through their thick skulls, dark fur looked over at misty petal and nodded as the kits rejoined her, she spotted bird kit hiding behind the silver tabby, the ginger kit occasionally peeked out at her with large dark eyes.

Ripple flame and hawk wind finally returned to helping her dig the rubble away, "we should get our apprentices helping as well" ripple flame said as more dirt flowed into the space he just dug out, dark fur and hawk wind nodded, "I'll go fetch them" dark fur said stopping her digging and hopping down from the large mound of dirt.

She entered the waterfall cave, stray droplets wetted her dusty pelt, she padded past misty petal and the kits nest and walked over to were her own kits were all still resting, she prodded crow paw first she groaned and rolled over in his nest, she prodded him harder "crow paw wake up you are needed to help clear the cliff side" she said, he opened his Amber eyes stretched and got to his large white paws, "can't I get a few more minutes" he asked sleepily.

"No we need all capable paws to assist us in clearing the cliff side, now wake your littermates" dark fur said padding back out of the cave again her paws were wetted by the damp stone outside the cave, there was a yowl of surprise from both hawk wind and ripple flame, she ran over to see what was wrong, dirt slipped out from under her paws as she ran across the mounds of rubble, the two toms were standing looking at the wall of the cliff side, "did we finally make it to the cliff" she asked, ripple flame turned to her green eyes large "I think so but there something weird" the ginger tabby said.

Dark fur tilted her head "weird? how so" she asked, ripple flame stepped aside letting her see the wall of the cliff, most of it was just smooth stone but an area of the wall had fallen away into another cave like the one behind the waterfall, "a cave?" She asked looking at hawk wind and ripple flame, they nodded, the apprentices made their way over to them finally, "what are you looking at" berry paw asked looking past her mother and at the cave her eyes widened, "oh a new cave does this mean we have more room for nests now" spotted paw asked looking around his sister.

"We don't know we haven't explored it yet" ripple flame replied shuffling his paws as he stared into the cave, hawk wind began to walk closer to the entrance "well we might as well get in there, who knows what we can find" the grey Tom said, dark fur nodded, "ripple flame, hawk wind and berry paw would you assist me in exploring the cave" she asked the three nodded berry paw bouncing on her paws happily, "what should we do" crow paw asked hoping they would bring him to explore as well.

"You will stay here and clear out the rest of the dirt" dark fur commanded her two sons seemed to deflate in sadness, dark fur led her patrol into the new cave entrance, the cave was dark and gloomy but the small amount of light that filtered in showed that there were many tunnel entrances in this cave system, "the storm must of, broke a hole into this cave" ripple flame suggested looking around, "yes I think you are right ripple flame, hm there is nothing in this cave it seems, let us check the tunnels" hawk wind said, dark fur nodded "let us all take a tunnel yell if you find anything or find a dead end" the dark she cat said Amber eyes flashing in the darkness.

She could barely see them nod in the darkness, she padded over to one of the tunnels and gingerly sniffed it, it didn't smell like anything, she began to pad down into it the tunnel sloped down into the ground, the roof began getting lower the farther she went until she had to crouch, she decided the tunnel was a lost cause, she backed up and turned in a wider part of the tunnel, and padded back into the cave, she called out "nothing in my tunnel" so her clan mates could hear, "nothing here either" she heard ripple flame call from his tunnel, soon after hawk wind called up to her from his tunnel "there's an underground river down here" the grey Tom yelled from a tunnel that smelled of water, "anything else" she called, suddenly she hard panicked paw steps from berry paws tunnel and she heard her kit yelling in fear.

She didn't understand at first, but when berry kit burst from the tunnel entrance yelling "badger!" Ripple flame hawk wind came out of their tunnels just I time to see the lumbering foul smelling shape making its way out of berry paws tunnel, dark furs eyes widened, "run!" she yelled in panic, she pushed berry paw out of the cave entrance and leapt out after her hawk wind and ripple flame leapt out after them.

"We need to get out of here" berry paw yelled her brothers seemed panicked "what's happening" crow paw asked, "badger, run now" ripple flame yelled, they all began to bolt towards the entrance but hawk wind turned and ran towards the waterfall, "my family, I need to get them to safety" he yelled, ripple flame was about to turn back to help the grey Tom but dark fur stopped him " I will go and help them you get the apprentices as far from here as possible" dark fur called running back towards the water fall.

The badger had begun to squeeze its way out of the cave, she worked her muscles to get to the cave faster, she bolted in in time to see hawk wind helping misty petal gather the shaking kits, "dark fur" hawk wind said in relief, dark fur ran up and grabbed bird kits scruff "let's go quickly we don't have time to chat" she said making her way towards the cave entrance, they all padded outside only to come face to face with the hulking badger, it seemed old with many scars, it lumbered towards them.

They ran back into the cave the kit wailed in fear, "are we going to die" misty petal asked ears flattened in fear, hawk wind didn't know what to say he just nuzzled his mate eye closed in sadness, Fern kit looked around for another escape, the badger was now in the entrance of the cave eying them all she spotted the tunnel that led to the glowing stalactite, "over there the badger won't be able to follow us in there she said limping towards the tunnel.

Without options the cats funneled into the tunnel, Fern kit led them into the tunnel, it wasn't long before they were all standing in the cavern of the glowing stalactite, there was an angry roar from the badger as it attempted to squeeze its way into the tunnel after them, "what do we do know, were cornered" misty petal said wrapping herself around the kits, fee kit hoped over her mother’s tail.

"We wait" Fern kit said lying down near the pool of water below the glowing stalactite, "the badger has to get bored of us sooner or later right" feather kit said hopefully her parents nodded but she knew it was only to make her feel better, dark fur lay down next to Fern kit at the pool, "has any other star clan cat spoke to you other than mallow mist" she asked, Fern kit shook her head, "no, but sometimes when I sneak in here to sleep, I dream of mallow mist he teaches me about herbs" Fern kit confessed, "let us hope star clan looks down on us and gives us a solution to this problem" dark fur said.

Dark fur thirsty lapped at the cold water of the puddle, she rested her head on her paws and fell into a dreamless sleep, she woke up to a scratching sound, she looked up hoping for a starry cat to be looking back at her but she only saw her other trapped clan mates staring horrified at the tunnel, entrance, she turned her own eyes widening seeing the old badger wedging Itself in the tunnel using its large blunt claws to drag itself through the tunnel, it was grunting in discomfort but it's beady black eyes were locked onto them in a manic glare.

She gasped in horror backing away from the tunnel, she had joined her clan mates against the wall, "star clan please help us" she whispered, the badger finally managed to so how drag its boast into the cave its claws now worn down and parts of it fur now missing scratches from the tunnel walls littered the bare patches of skin, it was terrifying the stench of the badger rolled over them.

Dark fur thought of her kits and her clan was it all going to be destroyed all because of this badger, the black and white predator lumbered closer fangs bared, she became angry she wouldn't allow this thing to harm her friends, dark fur hissed and spat surprising her clan mates, she leapt forward only to be batted by the blunt clawed front paw of the badger the air was knocked out of her as she was thrown across the stone floor, she got up gasping and leapt again this time avoiding the huge paw, she hot under its stomach and began clawing madly at the sensitive flesh, it howled in pain and attempted to crush her under its body by dropping down.

Dark fur rolled out from under it, she leapt onto the Badgers back and began clawing and biting madly at its exposed skin, the badger bucked trying to fling dark fur off its back, hawk wind recovering from his shock and fear began clawing at the Badgers hindquarters it hissed and screeched, misty petal was still curled protectively around her kits watching the battle Anxiously her eyes widened as the badger reared up on its back legs, "hawk wind dark fur look out!" She cried out in panic.

Hawk wind escaped the Badgers back slam but dark fur was crushed as it slammed her into the stone floor and crushed her with its back, dark fur gasped and writhed under the badger stinking fur, she went limp black spots were forming in her vision, the badger rolled onto it large paws and before she knew it, it had used its large paw to throw her across the cavern, she landed in the puddle of water below the glowing stalactite, the darkness continued to close in and water and blood soaked into her pelt, the darkness finally swallowed her vision.

She seemed to fall or was she floating upward she couldn't tell, her eyes were sealed shut with blood from a cut on her head, her fur was warm, sticky and so very uncomfortable, suddenly the feeling disappeared, and a cool breeze washed over her she found the strength to open her eyes.

Mallow mist stood over her, his white pelt glowing with starlight, she looked around cats she recognized as her old dead clan mates were all looking at her expectantly, she rose to her feet realizing all her wounds from fighting the badger were gone, she looked to mallow mist "am I dead" she rasped chocked with sadness that she had failed her clan.

"Yes and no" mallow mist said, she looked at the Tom inquisitively "you died to the badger but the living cats still need your guidance, so you will be granted the nine life's of a leader so you may lead them to their destiny" mellow mist explained, dark furs eyes widened "a leaders nine life's but I- I don't know if I'm worthy" she said, most of her confidence seemed to have drained from her body after her death. 

"it is your destiny to lead those cats, you brought them together for a great purpose, they will set the foundation for generations of a new clan, with you as their founder, all you have to do is accept but if you do not you will stay here in star clan and your clan mates you left behind will die" mallow mist said solemnly, dark fur heart clenched at the thought of the death of hawk wind and misty petal and all the kits, "I accept the nine life's you are offering me" she said raising her head proudly.

Mallow mist nodded, he touched his nose to her forehead "with this life I give you acceptance use it well to show kindness to cats from all walks of life" he pulled away from dark fur, the black she cat felt as though lightning had just struck her body tingling through every nerve and leaving her fur frazzled.

a golden tabby stepped forward from the crowd of cats "lion fur, brother" she said happily, the Tom nodded happily "though some challenges may come your way know that you can always overcome them, with this life I give you bravery use it to fight the darkness that tries to overpowered your clan" her brother smiled warmly and touched his nose to her head the lightning bolted through her again, she was so dazed she barely noticed her brother step back into the throng of cats and dark grey Tom step forward.

The smell of dew coated grass washed over her she looked up to see the green eyes of her first mate before weasel jaw, shade leaf stared at her love in his green eyes, she purred and pushed her nose into his grey pelt, "oh shade leaf how I've missed you I should of never taken another mate you were always the only one for me" she cried, he nuzzled her as well then placed his nose on her forehead "I missed you too dark fur but you must move on you have nine life's ahead of you, with this life I give you certainty so you may always have firm conviction in your choices" he pulled away from her with one lick to her head, the Lightning came but it was drowned out by her love for her former mate.

A small black kit scampered out after shade leaf had rejoined the other cats, "hi momma" the kit said familiar Amber eyes staring up at her happily, her heart leapt in happiness "dusk kit my child oh how I've missed you" she leaned down and began licking her dead kit all over even with his protests, "I've missed you too momma, I also saw my littermate being apprenticed, how I wish I was there beside them, but I'll settle for watching over you guys and making sure that Meanie weasel jaw doesn't get to you, so with this life I give you duty use it to protect those you care about" he touched his nose to her bowed head she felt warmth flow through her this time, she stared longingly at her kit how bounced back over to shade leaf.

A pale cream she cat padded up to her "hey dark fur, remember me" dark fur purred in happiness "shell coat my greatest friend it's been so long since I've heard your voice" shell coat laughed, "I heard you became super grumpy after my death" the cream tabby joked, dark fur bowed her head in embarrassment, shell coat took the chance to place her nose on her friend head "with this life I give you friendship with it you will make friends that will assist you in times of great need" shell coat smiled stepped back and the Warmth flooded her again.

A Brown and red tabby stepped out of the crowd to replace shell coat, "hello my kit" the she cat said Amber eyes warm, "mother" dark fur greeted, robin whisker her mother smiled and touched her nose to her daughters head "with this life I give you the gift of a mothers love treat every cat and kitten in your clan as if they were your own child, letting know you are there for them" robin whisker stepped back, lightning flooded back into dark furs body filling her with the powerful need to protect her clan mates like they were her children.

A familiar white Warrior with orange patches stepped forward from the crowd, "breeze talon? What are you doing here" She asked surprised to see the Tom most cat assumed fathered her kits, though she knew this was untrue, breeze talon really did look like spotted paw "yes dark fur I truly am sorry for my mate and other clan mates actions against you and your kits" he apologized bowing his white and orange head, dark fur looked solemnly at breeze talon the Tom who was the unwilling reason for her hardships, she sighed "I forgive you breeze talon" she said, breeze talon nodded and touched his nose to her forehead "with this life I give you judgment, use it to come to a sensible conclusion in times of indecision" the bolt of lightning returned filling her with the need to punish cats like weasel jaw for their actions.

A grey tabby took breeze talons place, the she cat stared at dark fur with dark green eyes, "you do not know me, but I am grove heart clear stars first deputy, cold fur protecting his murderous brother from exile will be detrimental to river clan and I am requesting your assistance in showing him the error of his ways" grove heart asked her green eyes pleading "what can I do I am no longer part of river clan" dark fur said, "the time will come when you will face cold fur and his brother you just need to wait, we must only hope cold fur isn't too far gone" grove heart then leaned down and placed her nose on dark furs head "with this life I give you patience, use it to lay in wait for a proper time to strike against the evil that threatens your clan" lightning seemed to flood from grove hearts nose into dark fur.

The last cat stepped forward, "father" dark fur said happily seeing her father Raven feather standing tall his pure black pelt unmarked by the scars he held in life, her father nodded stepping forward "my daughter with this life I give you strength with it you will fight tooth and claw for what you believe is right and against cats that threaten your clan mates" Raven feather seemed to linger with his nose on her, even after the lightning of her ninth life entered and exited her body.

When her father had rejoined the other star clan cats, mallow mist stepped forward again, "I hail you by your new name dark star, your old life is no more you have now received the nine life's of a leader, and star clan grant you guardian ship of dark clan defend it well, care for young and old, honor your ancestors and the traditions of the warrior code, live each life with pride and dignity" mallow mist called.

Dark star nodded her Amber eyes filled with new determination, the throng of star clan cats called out "dark star, dark star" they all called her name, her family and friends among them, mallow mist walked over to her "to the outside world it has only been seconds, when you return to the living world your wound will have healed allowing you to fight once again" the white Tom bowed his head in farewell to the new leader and the world began to melt away.

Dark stars eyes snapped open, she gasped for breath in the puddle of water, she looked up to see misty petal cowering in fear as hawk wind hissed at the approach in badger, with new strength dark star had never felt before she leapt out of the water and ran across the stone floor, the badger turned only to get a claw raking across its face drawing blood with splattered across the caves ground.

The badger howled and swung a clumsy paw at her, as if it were slow motion she dodged the attack easily and used the opening the swipe had left, she darted forward and slashed its face once again this time across the eyes, another howl of pain this time the badger collapsed and gripped its face blood seeped into its stinking white fur, she looked over at the battered hawk wind who's ear tip was missing and a bloody claw mark marred his side, the grey Tom still surprised at the she cats recovery could only stare as dark star got behind the badger and bit its leg, the badger blinded now got to its paws and ran.

It's paws scrambled as it attempted to drag itself back into the tunnel leading back to the cave, hawk wind and dark star seeing it retreat ran close behind hissing they nipped its heels as it managed to squeeze back into the main cave, there the two powerful cat were able to leap onto the old blind badger that had terrorized them, the two gripped its large neck sinking their fangs into it blood dripped out of the Badgers jaws and it collapsed once again this time for good.

The two gasped for air as they dragged themselves from the Badgers back and lay down catching their breaths, misty petal peeked her head out of the tunnel seeing the dead badger she sighed in relief and allowed her kits into the cave, bird kit and Fern kit ran to the Warriors side to see if they were alright wile bracken kit and feather kit sniffed and poked the dead badger "wow you really defeated it" feather kit said she climbed onto the white and black beasts body her tiny body was even smaller compared to the bulky creature, misty petal quickly grabbed her kit off of the badger and put her tail around her, bracken kit sniffed the Badger and ever clawed at it with his tiny claws.

Fern kit looked over both hawk wind and dark star, "I'll need some more horsetail and golden rod" Fern kit said finally, bird kit just stared at dark star with large dark eyes "you different now I can tell" the ginger kit said them ran away back to misty petal, dark star stood up her wounds had healed after losing her life she was just tiered, she hoped onto the small rock and called "I have an announcement to make but all cats must be here to hear it, bird kit I would like you and your brother to run and fetch ripple flame and the apprentices for me" dark star said bird kit hesitated but nodded and she and bracken kit ran out of the cave to look for the other cats


	11. chapter 9

Chapter 9-

It had been a day since dark star was given her nine lives and the badger had been defeated, hawk wind lay in his nest letting his wounds recover, ripple flame and the apprentices were continuing to make the piles of rubble and transporting them out of camp, the cave had a second entrance that led into a forest were they believed the badger may have lived, they had blocked off that tunnel with thick brambles the moment she announced she was now dark star.

They were now working on making the second more roomy cave the Warriors and apprentice den, misty petal was at the moment moving her kits up with the slope "we can't stay in that cave any longer it’s too easy to get cornered in it, we'll live in the bush den near the gorge from now on" misty petal had told her, Fern kit had refused "I can't keep climbing the slope everyday with my bad leg I'll stay in the waterfall cave instead" Fern kit had refused to listen to her mother’s worries the cave was perfectly safe they were just unlucky the badger had found them in it.

Dark fur still didn't understand Fern kit, the sassy grey blue kit seemed wise beyond her years, dark star sighed it would be a long day, she padded over to ripple flame who was digging rocks out of the loose dirt piles, "ripple flame would you mind taking berry paw hunting with you, I will take over your digging duties" she asked tiredness in her voice, "sure" the ginger tabby nodded and walked over to a bored berry paw, "dark star wants us to go hunting" the Tom told his apprentice who perked up at those words.

The two dark clan cats walked over to the stream and jumped in washing the dirt and dust out of their pelts, they leapt out again shaking their pelts off of eases water, they padded towards the bramble entrance but were stopped by bracken kit, the little brown Tom ran up from behind them, "I want to come too" he said his green eyes were wide and happy, ripple flame shook his ginger head "bracken kit your too young, dark star now wants every kit under six moons to stay in the safety of camp" ripple flame said.

bracken kit huffed "well Fern kit gets to go out of camp all the time" bracken kit said fur puffed up in anger, "yes because she always brings another cat with her and it only for herbs" berry paw replied her green eyes narrowed, "it's not fair" the little brown kit yelled, the two older cats rolled their eyes and left bracken kit to his temper tantrum, "bracken kit are you ok" bird kit asked coming over to him.

"No I want to go hunting but they won't let me come" bracken kit huffed again his claws scuffed the ground, bird kit looked around for something to distract her brother with, she saw most of the clan digging the fallen dirt "hey if you really want to help the clan, why not help with digging I'm sure if you ask nicely dark star will give you a job to do" bird kit said her ginger and brown tail tip pointing to the digging area.

"Like they would let us help, we're just nuisances them" bracken kit said angrily, bird kit didn't know how to reply to that, "but there is a way we can make them validate us" bracken kit said, "what's that" bird kit asked meekly, "we go out and catch more prey than ripple flame and berry paw" bracken kit said proudly, "but dark star said we're not allowed out of camp" bird kit said brown eyes worried, "she doesn't need to know" bracken kit said.

Bird kit shook her head "we can't if we get caught we'll be punished" the ginger and brown she cat said she was terrified, bracken kit took a step towards the camp entrance "fine I'll go myself and you can dirty your paws digging" bracken kit began walking towards the entrance, bird kit looked back at the older cats, they were still digging not noticing the kits escaping the camp, she made up her mind.

She ran after her larger brother, when she had passed the barrier she called out to him, "bracken kit wait, I'll come with you" he slowed down to let his sister catch up to him, "so you decided to come after all" he said smugly, "yes but only to make sure you don't hurt yourself" bird kit followed her brother into the fields that surrounded the gorge, small field mice scampered out of the dewy grass as they walked, "there's loads of mice here why not hunt right here" bird kit asked, "because it's too close to camp and mice are easy to catch, I want a rabbit that'll show them" bracken kit said ignoring the little grey mouse that literally ran right In front of him.

"But rabbits are so large we couldn't possibly kill one" bird kit said, she wished her brother wasn't so ambitious, "there's two of us we can take it down together" bracken kit reasoned, bird kit sighed there was no reasoning with her brother, the light ginger and brown kit followed her spiky furred brother, bracken kit suddenly stopped and pointed his tail at a large brown long eared shape in the grass, "that's a rabbit" he whispered excitedly, bird kit eyed the creature, it was a very large even among most rabbits, it was the size of the two kits combined.

The rabbits ears twitched and it looked over at them, bird kit sighed in relief, it would run away now and she would be able to get bracken kit back to camp, but the rabbit didn't run it narrowed its beady eyes at them and it's greying whiskers twitched in annoyance, it began to hop towards them bracken kit stood his ground at first but when the rabbit got close enough and bracken kit realized its size he backed up, the rabbit then ran at them its powerful legs kicking up dirt.

The kits dove to the side avoiding the rabbit, the rabbit turned on its heel to bolt back at them, it targeted bird kit, she squeaked in fear and froze on the spot, “bird kit" bracken kit yelled out to his sister, suddenly a flash of white and orange tackled the giant rabbit, spotted paw was growling as he snapped the rabbits neck, Fern kit ran up to them, "what were you thinking" the blue she cat was angry her foster siblings had provoked such a large rabbit, she was caring herbs in her jaws meaning she must of been out herb collecting.

"We wanted to hunt" bracken kit stuttered, "you mean you wanted to hunt, I know you must of forced bird kit to go along with your crazy plan she always been timid" Fern kit berated, bracken kit hung his head in shame, spotted paw dragged the rabbit over to them, "we need to get back to the clan quickly" he said, Fern kit nodded, they walked back through the fields to camp the kits trailed behind them in shame.

Fern kit pushed into the camp followed by spotted paw and his rabbit, the kits padded after them, dark star and misty petal ran over to them, "where were you two" misty petal asked her foster kits anxiously, bracken kit and bird kit hung their heads waiting for Fern kit and spotted paw to tell dark star they had left camp.

"we found them playing outside the entrance when we returned" spotted paw lied, misty petal sighed in relief, "kits never scare me like that again, if you want to play outside of camp just tell me" misty petal said, bracken kit nodded and looked over at spotted paw in apparition, dark star eyed the large rabbit "where did you catch that" she asked her son and apprentice, before he could reply Fern kit piped up "he caught it when we were looking for herbs, it was so big he couldn't pass up catching it for the clan" the blue kit said, dark star nodded. 

"good catch spotted paw, that rabbit will feed misty petal and all the kits" she praised him, he puffed out his chest in pride, "hawk wind has asked for a fish to eat so we will be doing some fishing for the rest of the day" dark star said, bracken kit perked up "can we help" he asked, the other cats looked to dark star, her Amber gaze bore into bracken kit "sure it will be good experience for you kits" she said tail swishing as she turned and hopped onto the burnt tree bridge.

Bracken kit and bird kit followed dark star and spotted paw up the slope feather kit so how joined them, "aren't you going to fish with them" misty petal asked Fern kit, the blue kit shook her head "no I have herbs to sort and dad needs his bandages changed" Fern kit said carrying her herbs into the water fall cave.


	12. chapter 10

Chapter 10-

"Fern kit, feather kit you have reached the age of six moons, it is time for you two to be apprenticed, from this day on until you receive your warrior name you will be known as Fern paw and feather paw, due to our shortage of warriors Fern paw I will mentor you alongside spotted paw and ripple flame with mentor feather paw alongside berry paw, we will pass all our knowledge onto you two" dark star called down from her perch in the tree in front of the camp entrance, she leapt down and touched noses with her second apprentice, flame ripple did the same.

"Fern paw, feather paw! Fern paw, feather paw" the clan called ,misty petal and hawk wind called the loudest for their kits, after the excitement had all died down bracken kit mewed "I want to be apprenticed too" he called brown tail swishing, "don't worry bracken kit one moon more and you will be an apprentice" misty kit said snuggling her foster kit.

Feather paw and berry paw chatted away with each other about their mentor ripple flame while Fern paw sat by dark star listening to her "today spotted paw and I will take you on a tour of the territory, though you will most likely know your way around already" dark star said Amber eyes staring Fern paw over, Fern paw nodded, spotted paw joined them and they padded out of camp.

"Right as you step out of camp is the fields, it is where most of the prey comes from other than the gorge, it has two main areas the flower field the ones were in right now and the horse hills, you know you’re in the horse hills when you see large animals called horses grazing in the grass" dark star said, allowing Fern paw to look around the familiar fields.

Dark star led them to an area were the fields turned to woodland "would you like to tell her about this area spotted paw" dark star asked her son, the white and orange Tom nodded "this is the twoleg wood land, there are squirrels mice and birds in here, but if you go farther in there's a twoleg place" dark star nodded happy with his explanation "good job spotted paw" she said, Fern paw groaned "I already know we're everything is, I used this place all the time to look for herbs, tell me something new" Fern paw said rolling her eyes.

dark star huffed "fine if you want to know something new, there is a second wood land down south, but it marks our border with river clan and it's not safe to hunt in, we don't use it not for prey or herbs and it will stay that way for our clans protection" Fern paw seemed surprised an entire part of the territory not being used due to some other clan, "why not let them know we're here" she asked, spotted paw answered "our clan is still small with only four warrior one of which is a queen, I'm sure the other clans would kill us if they knew we were gaining power" spotted paw said solemnly.

Dark star nodded "it is best they do not know of us until star clan wishes it" dark star said head held high, Fern paw bowed her head in understanding, "spotted paw broke the awkward silence "let's get some hunting practice in, that's something you haven't done before" he said, Fern paw groaned her three good legs would have to pick up the slack if she wanted to be a good warrior.

She groaned as she followed the two back into camp, they were carrying prey but she had nothing, dark star and spotted paw placed their prey down "you two go eat I'll take some prey to misty petal and hawk wind" dark star said padding away tail high, Fern paw felt as if she failed "hey maybe land prey isn't your thing, many you'll have better luck with fishing" spotted paw said reassuringly brushing his orange tail over her spine, crow paw called out to his brother spotted paw nodded to fern paw and went to see what his brother needed.

Fern paw looked to the side feather paw was sitting at the other side of camp near a blackberry bush, her silver sister waved her fluffy tail to signal Fern paw to come over, a trout lay at feather paws feet, "you want to share" she asked happily, Fern paw nodded, the two hunkered down, between bites of the fish the two sisters told each other about their first day as apprentices.

"Ripple flame brought me and berry paw fishing in the gorge, it was great I even caught this trout" feather paw boasted her pretty silky tail flicked happily, Fern paw sighed she wished her day was as successful as her sisters "dark star took me on a tour of the territory, I already knew everything, then we went hunting, I didn't catch anything thanks to my bad leg" Fern paw said rolling her green eyes, feather paw took another bite of the trout, "aw, better luck next time, but as least you have something going for you" the silver tabby said winking, Fern paw seemed confused "and what would that be" she asked, "spotted paw idiot, he obviously likes you, he's always offering to help you find herbs and I saw the way his eyes lit up when he found out you'd be training alongside him" feather paw joked.

Fern paw spluttered "we're just friends ok, nothing more or nothing less it's like you and berry paw good friends" Fern paw said quickly, feather paw laughed "your defensiveness tells me you like him back" she said, "nope not having this conversation" Fern paw got to her feet and limped towards the dirt pile, "I can't wait to see your guys kittens" feather paw called, getting an embarrassment groan from her sister.

Fern paw began to dig furiously at the dirt piles "uh are you ok" a voice asked, she turned her head to see crow paw with his head tilted inquisitively, "I'm fine feather paw just made me mad, I needed to vent" Fern paw said, crow paw hopped onto the dirt pile as well "well at least dark star didn't assigned you to digging duty like hawk wind did to me" he said helping her did the dirt, "oh?" she asked.

"Yea ever since your dad was injured, he assigned me digging duty until he's better, I've barely stopped all day, I stop only to wash my paws and eat" he said annoyed, "if you want I'll get dark star to bring you out hunting next time" Fern paw said as her claws scraped the dirt, "I really would appreciated that" he said.

Fern paw snuggled into her nest in the waterfall cave the sun had set and she groaned she had been unable to collect any herbs with her apprentice duties, the entire clan was asleep before her, she looked around her sister was curled up in the nest beside her, her father slept soundly in the nest across from her his body still bandaged, dark stars kits slept soundly in nests next to each other, dark star herself was curled up tightly in her nest in the middle of the cave, she was a dark shape against the bright ginger of ripple flame, she took a double take, ripple flame had his nest next to their leaders, she was surprised but if dark star didn't mind she guessed it was fine.

She tried getting comfortable once again, but there was always something wrong with her position or her nest, she huffed got up and made her way into the tunnel in the back of the cave, she squeezed through the still badger scented tunnel, finally she reached the cavern of the glowing stalactite as they had taken to call it, dark star believed it was a bridge to star clan, Fern paw settled down in the spot she usually slept in, the cavern still smelled of blood and Badgers and she could see were the creatures blood had spattered on the stony floor.

She sighed and rested her head on her paws she looked up at the stalactites ever glowing light and then down into the puddle of water, she lapped up some of the cold water and closed her eyes, she fell into the darkness of sleep, she woke to the feeling of soft grass under her paws, she opened her eyes the familiar lush green grass of star clan tickled her nose.

"Greeting Fern paw" the blue grey she cat looked up to see mallow mist and two new cats she hadn't seen before, one was a was a brown she cat with bold red tabby stripes she was solid without a stray pelt just like Fern paw, the other was a cream Tom with yellow eyes his pelt was like mallow mist's starry, she avoided their gaze and greeted mallow mist "hello mallow mist" Fern paw said, the brown and red tabby narrowed her eyes at her, "who is this cat river frost and why is mallow mist here" she asked the cream Tom, "she is a medicine cat just like us radiant river" river frost said gazing at Fern paw who felt like she was intruding.

"A medicine cat? of which clan, it can't be shadow clan nut paw became sky thorns apprentice moons ago, or river clan unless one of them died and already got a new apprentice, has hollow dust replaced rabbit paw already, and my apprentice is fading paw if you have forgotten, so tell me who is this strange cat I've never seen before" radiant river ranted, mallow mist stepped forward "this cat is Fern paw, she does not belong to any of the clans you mentioned, I am training her to be a medicine cat of a new clan that one day you'll meet" mallow mist said, radiant river scoffed "a new clan, all right I'll humor you, if a bunch. Of rouges really could create a clan, what makes you think this kit can take on one of the most important jobs in their new clan" radiant river said smugly.

"Fern paw has already proved herself capable of being a medicine cat, her first patient suffered from a terrible dog bite and shock, he is now running again with his apprentices" mallow mist said proudly, radiant river huffed "one patient doesn't make her a medicine cat" she then looked Fern paw in the eyes "it is a taxing job and the death of a cat you couldn't save will stick with you forever, tell me kit do you really want to have that on your mind" Fern paw was scared but she raised her head "my clan needs me to heal them in their times of need, I won't let you scare me away from doing that" the blue grey she cat said puffing out her chest.

Radiant river smirked "good maybe you have what it takes after all" river frost placed his tail on radiant rivers spine "I've shown you what you needed to see, but you must not tell your clan about the new clan until the time is right" he said, before the brown and red tabby could ask more questions she faded from star clan, river frost looked over to mallow mist "I've done want you wanted the wind clan medicine cat now knows of your new apprentice" the cream Tom dipped his head and walked off into the bushes.

Fern paw looked to her ghostly mentor "why did you let her know of my clan's existence, what if she tells her clan and they attack" Fern paw said worriedly, "radiant river will not tell anyone, we let her know for when you clan reveals themselves for real, she will put in a good word for you with the other medicine cats and in turn all the clan leaders" mallow mist said, Fern paw seemed surprised, she didn't know what to say, she then remembered that dark star was also training her to be a warrior.

"I want to be a medicine cat I really do but dark star took me as her warrior apprentice, how do I convince her to let me train under you full time" she asked, mallow mist laughed "did you tell her you wanted to be a medicine cat, who knows maybe she's hoping you'll take up the position" he said his blue eyes shined with humor, Fern paw spluttered "what if she doesn't let me" she reasoned, "we'll send a sign then" mallow mist said, Fern paw nodded "now you must wake up, your clanmates will wonder where you are" mallow mist said, star clan faded from Fern paws vision and she woke.

She felt the cold stone of the cave under her paws, she groaned and got to her paws, she squeezed out of the tunnel into the main cave, most of the clan was out of their nests and on their paws except dark star who was sitting in her nest examining a Fern that grew out of the stone near her paws, "dark star I need to speak with you" Fern paw said running over to her, dark star turned to her apprentice "yes Fern paw" she asked, "I've spoken to star clan and they want me to be a medicine cat" Fern paw said, dark star stared at her then turned to the Fern at her paws and back to the blue apprentice "if that is what you want" dark star said.

Dark star led Fern paw outside, dark star then leapt onto her perch on the tree near the entrance, "all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather around the tall tree" she called, the few cats in the clan ran out to hear her words, once all the cats were seated she began the meeting "Fern paw has decided to take the path of a medicine cat instead of a warrior, meaning she will be here at any time ready to heal you, communicate with star clan and speak to you about your problems, her training is now in the paws of starclan" dark star finished.


	13. chapter 11

Chapter 11-

Inside the thick walls of the dark clan nursery Bird kit bounced on her ginger paws happily as misty petal licked her fur smooth, bracken kit was just as exited if not more than her "when is she going to call us" he asked impatiently pacing in front of the nursery, "soon little one, now come here bracken kit, I need to get your fur presentable for your ceremony" misty petal said bringing the spiky furred brown Tom over to her with a swish of her silky tail, bracken kit rolled his eyes "you've been grooming me all morning and my furs still spiky" he said huffing.

Bird kit chuckled at her brothers antics, "all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather around the tall tree" came dark stars call came from the clearing, bird kits ears perked up, "I can't wait, we're going to be apprentices" she said her usual shyness forgotten as she bounced down the slope into the clearing her brother beside her, she ducked her head in embarrassment as her clan mates stared at them as they walked.

Their mother joined their father and their older siblings in the small crowd, she padded into the clearing and sat with her brother in front of dark stars tree, dark star looked down at them with Amber eyes "bracken kit and bird kit you have reached the age of six moons, it is time for you two to be apprenticed, from this day on until you receive your warrior names you will be known as bracken paw and bird paw, bracken paw you will be mentored by misty petal, bird paw you will train under hawk wind with crow paw" dark star called.

the new apprentices touched their noses to their mentors, misty petal seemed more nervousness than bracken paw and bird paw combined, the cats all cheered their names, "bracken paw, bird paw, bracken paw, bird paw" they yelled, dark star raised her sleek tail to silence the crowd, "I have more news, as you can see the dirt from the storm has been cleared out making the area safer and thanks to all the hard work of the entire clan, the warrior and apprentice dens are ready to be slept in" dark star announced.

The clan chatted about the news "I can’t wait to move in, the other den was getting so crowded" ripple flame told his sister who nodded, "I'll take bracken paw to collect some fresh moss" misty petal said, bracken paw groaned beside her, "can't we hunt instead, collecting things is so boring" he said, "your job isn't just to hunt bracken paw it’s to take care of the clan, and at the moment the clan needs fresh bedding" hawk wind said his striped grey tail flicking.

Bracken paw groaned again, bird paw placed her thick ginger and brown tail across her brothers shoulders "I'll go with you to look for moss if you want" bracken paw seemed happier that his sister was coming with him on the boring task, "no you’re not, you’re coming with me and crow paw to practice battle moves" hawk wind said pulling her away from bracken paw with his tail, bracken paw groaned as his foster mother and mentor dragged him back up the slope chatting to him about the best places to find moss.

Bird paw and crow paw stood apart from each other hawk wind stood to the sideline of the small clearing in the woodland they were using to train, “since bird paw is a new apprentice we'll start with the easiest fighting technique, the front paw swipe, crow paw demonstrate it if you will" hawk wind told his other apprentice, crow paw swiped the air with unsheathed claws viciously, bird paw watched him do it over and over again until she got the gist of it, "now try the front paw swipe" hawk wind said, bird paw raked with her little claws across the air like crow paw.

"hm not bad but it could be better try with more force and try and pretend there's an enemy in front of you" hawk wind advised bird paw nodded and swiped again quickly and then followed it up with another swipe from her other ginger paw, Hawk wind nodded in satisfaction "good job bird paw" crow paw said, bird paw blushed under her pelt from the praise, "now you two will have a mock battle, no claws, so I can test your improve skills in battles" hawk wind said, the two apprentices stared at each other from across the clearing, a leaf floated down from one of the trees catching bird paws eyes, crow paw took that opportunity to bolt at her.

Luckily his large paws slowed him down enough that bird paw could gain her bearings, she leapt out of his paws range on instinct, she didn't know how to follow up her dodge giving crow paw the opportunity to turn himself and he cuffed her across the face with a soft paw, she was stunned she hadn't expected any of that, crow paw stopped attacking "are you ok" he asked not expecting her to just freeze on the spot, hawk wind padded over to them, "bird paw you mustn't freeze up like that in battle you had an advantage and you let it slip through your paw" hawk wind said shaking his head disappointedly.

Bird paw hung her head, hawk wind sighed "try again but this time focus", bird paw wanting to impress her mentor made the first move she ran straight at crow paw, but the Tom leapt away from her, as she grinder to a halt he struck out with a soft white paw and pushed her off balance, he pinned her down with all four of his large paws, she struggled but gave up "you win she said" crow paw stepped off of her, hawk wind stepped up "good moves crow paw those paws of yours make you an excellent fighter" the grey tabby praised the black apprentice, crow paw puffed out his chest "thank you hawk wind" hawk wind looked to bird paw. 

"you should of zig zagged it would of been harder to predict and if you are ever pinned like that again either lay limp and wait for an opportunity or kick wildly with your back legs at their stomach" hawk wind finished, bird paw hung her head again, "don't worry bird paw this is only your first day as an apprentice, you'll improve" crow paw assured her, the three walked back to camp, bird paws tail was trailing behind her, they padded back through the entrance.

Dark star was sharing tongue with ripple flame, Fern paw was sharing a rabbit with feather paw, berry paw and spotted paw were helping misty petal bring bedding materials into the warrior and apprentice den, hawk wing looked around the camp "grab something to eat you two, we're going to go hunting after you’re done" he called to them as he walked over to his mate, the two apprentices walked over to the prey pile "you want to share a squirrel" crow paw asked pulling one of the fluffy tailed creatures off the prey pile, bird paw was about to agree but she spotted her brother bracken paw sitting alone, "no sorry I think I'll eat with my brother" she said grabbing a dove from the pile.

"Oh ok" Crow paw said ears flattened in sadness, he dropped the squirrel back onto the pile and grabbed a small vole instead, they went their separate ways, bird paw padded up to her brother and dropped the dove at his paws, he looked up at her "you want to share and talk about our day" she asked, he nodded and she hunkered down across from him "so how was your day" she asked as she plucked the doves feathers, bracken paw sighed "boring, misty petal made me collect moss and bedding all day, while you probably got to fight like a real warrior" he said his spiky tail flicking in agitation.

bird paw chewed on some of the dove and seemed to blush under her pelt "well I kind of got my tail handed to me by crow paw if that makes you feel any better" she said looking away from him In embarrassment, The brown Tom laughed, "ha, well at least you learned some cool fighting moves" he said as he bit into the dove, "only the front paw strike, you basically only have to claw the opponent like this" bird kit got up and demonstrated the move in the air, bracken paw watched.

"Man I wish I could of been in your position and I heard you’re going hunting after you eat you've got all the luck haven't you" bracken paw said, the two finished off the dove and began to groom each other’s pelts, hawk wind called over to bird paw "are you ready to go hunting" crow paw was already standing beside their mentor, "yes I'll be there in a second" bird paw finished up grooming her brother and ran over to hawk wind.

Bracken paw hung his head he wished he could go hunting, "bracken paw come here, we're going hunting with hawk wind!" Misty petal called across the clearing as she sat herself down next to her mate, bracken paw bounced up to them "really, no more chores?" Misty petal laughed, "yes no more chores, now you can hunt like you always wanted" she said.


	14. chapter 12

Chapter 12-

Misty petal wiggled her haunches and hoped forward, missing the pebble they were using for hunting practice, "uh not to be rude or anything that wasn't a very good leap" bracken paw said quietly, hawk wind shook his head " no it wasn't, misty petal just let me show them the hunting crouch" he said misty petal joined their apprentices, hawk wind crouched down explaining the hunting crouch "keep your body low, and keep your tail sticking straight, make sure your hind legs are ready to leap and then you Spring on your prey" hawk wing leapt and caught the pebble between his paws.

Bracken paw and bird paw were amazed, "the hunting crouch is best used for mice. But sometimes prey escapes and there are better techniques for some prey" hawk wind explained, "now crow paw tell me how you would catch a rabbit" hawk wind quizzed his apprentice "a rabbit can see you from a mile away when there is no cover so the best course of action is to stalk as close as you can and bolt after the rabbit after it starts to run" crow paw said quickly, "good how do you catch a bird" hawk wind asked, "use the hunting crouch, but if it flies off jump up and drag it out of the air before it lets out an alarm call" crow paw said.

Hawk wind nodded "and what about a fish" the grey Tom asked, "make sure your shadow doesn't land on the water, wait for the fish to swim by and then scoop them up quickly onto land then kill them before they can flop back into the water" hawk wind nodded proudly, and misty petal, bracken paw and bird paw were amazed at crow paws knowledge of prey, bracken paw then said "what about squirrels"

crow paw thought for a moment "squirrels are tricky prey if you don't catch them with a hunters crouch they'll run up the nearest tree, if you know what to do you can climb up the tree after them, I saw mom grab one by the tail once halfway up a tree she then leapt down the tree and killed the squirrel" crow paw said.

"Wow I want to catch a squirrel now" bracken paw said eyes twinkling, misty petal and hawk wind shook their heads "that squirrel hunting technique is very advanced, I hate admit it but even I can't perfect it" hawk wind said, even misty petal was surprised, hawk wind blushed under his grey pelt "wow and I thought hawk wind was the perfect hunter" bracken paw joked with his sister she giggled.

"Why don't we practice climbing trees then" misty petal said, "that would be great" crow paw said, "then let's find some trees" hawk wind said, the groups of cats made their way into the woodland and found some birch trees, "birch trees have soft bark easy to get a claw in" hawk wind said as he unsheathed his claws and leapt up onto the tree and dug his claws in, the apprentices watched amazed as he claimed up the white barked tree and then as he reached one of the higher branches he began to climb down again, "it's pretty easy as long as you just focus on the tree" he said placing his paws on the earth again.

Misty petal stood up "I want to try" hawk wind nodded, the silver tabby leapt up higher than hawk wind and grabbed onto the tree she began to scale it quicker than him too, she then scooted down the tree, "wow she's better at climbing trees than hawk wind" bird paw said dark brown eyes wide, "it must be her longer legs and smaller body that lets her leap so high" crow paw said, "I want to try now" bracken paw ran forward.

The brown Tom dug his claws into the bottom of an oak tree and tried to pull himself up the trunk, he barely got off the ground when hawk wind told him to come down "bracken paw we're using the birch trees for today's practice, anyway your meant to start on the trunk of the tree not the bottom didn't you see us leap when we were showing you" bracken paw hung his head in embarrassment.

The rest of the day was uneventful with the apprentices leaping up and down trees, dark star sighed as she fished another trout from the river, the water was cold on her paws just how she liked it, the Stars shined above her, ripple flame padded up into the gorge and over to her "I see your doing some late night fishing" the ginger Tom said, he sat down next to her "yes I can't sleep" dark star said her as she picked up one of her fish, ripple flame helped her by grabbing the other, "What's wrong" the tabby asked seeing his leader looking down at the ground, "the clan needs a deputy" she said Amber eyes looking ahead of her "oh, well why not hawk wind?" flame ripple suggested.

Dark star seemed surprised, she thought the ginger Tom would of suggested himself "why do you think hawk wind should be my deputy" she asked wanting to hear ripple flames thoughts on the grey Tom "well, hawk wind is a strong warrior, he may seem tough but he has a good heart and he cares for his family, he really just seems to want the best for the clan" ripple flame said, dark star nodded but decided to ask the question on her mind "why not suggest yourself for the position of deputy" dark star asked.

Ripple flame thought "I don't think I would be ready for that kind of responsibility in the clan, I really just want to work with my apprentices on their skills" ripple flame said humbly, he dropped the trout on the prey pile and licked his cream colored chest in embarrassment, dark star remember something else she wanted to talk about "speaking of apprentices, do you feel that it is time my kits became warriors" she asked black, her ear angled eager to hear how one of her kits mentors thought of their progress in their training.

"I don't know about spotted paw or crow paw, you and hawk wind would have to decide for them but berry paw is doing amazingly she's very enthusiastic to learn, and she's an excellent hunter and swimmer" he said his praise of his tortishell apprentice, dark star purred happily "hm I'll ask hawk wind what he thinks about them becoming warriors tomorrow, thank you ripple flame you have helped me greatly" she said licking the toms head affectionately and stepping off into the Warriors and apprentice den. 

Flame ripple blushed under his orange tabby coat, he stepped into the den after her, he stepped into his mossy nest on the warrior side of the cave, he craned his flame colored head to look at the dark shape of dark star curled up and already asleep in her nest, he smiled and closed his green eyes resting his head on his cream colored paws.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the tall tree" flame ripple heard the dark she cat call from outside the den, he got up and shook the moss from his nest off his pelt, he padded outside to see dark star on her perch most of his clan mates were already gathered around the tree.

He padded over and sat next to his apprentice berry paw, he turned and smiled at her knowing that she would more than likely become a warrior today, "spotted paw, berry paw and crow paw step forward please" she looked down at them with pride in her eyes as her kits stepped forward, berry paw looked back at him and he smiled and nodded at her "I have talked to your mentors, and it has been decided that you three are ready for your warrior names" the apprentices eyes widened and they let out happy gasps.

"I dark star Leader of dark clan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these three apprentices, they have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as a warriors in their turn" she called, her kits puffed out their chests in pride and happiness, dark star then continued "Spotted paw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?" She asked her oldest son.

"I do" his orange tail was held high is the air as she looked at him with loving eyes, "Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name spotted paw, from this moment on you will be known as spotted shade StarClan honors your independence and dedication and we welcome you as a full warrior of dark clan" she finished she hoped down and placed her muzzle on his head spotted shade licked her shoulder with his rough tongue.

Dark star hopped back up onto her tree and turned her eyes to berry paw "berry paw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?" She asked her tortishell kit, berry paw nodded vigorously "I do!" She said stepping forward, "Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name berry paw, from this moment on you will be known as berry leaf StarClan honors your enthusiasm and hunting skills and we welcome you as a full warrior of dark clan" berry leaf held the head high as she was given her new name, dark star leapt down placed her muzzle on her daughters head berry leaf licked her mother’s black shoulder.

The black she cat leapt back onto her perch. and finally, dark star turned to her last and largest kit "Crow paw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?" She asked, crow paw while nervousness nodded "I do" he said, "Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name crow paw, from this moment on you will be known as crow fur StarClan honors your knowledge and loyalty and we welcome you as a full warrior of dark clan" crow fur shakily licked his mother’s shoulder his purring was addible to all as she placed her black muzzle on his head.

"Spotted shade, berry leaf, crow fur, spotted shade, berry leaf, crow fur" the clan chanted the new warriors names, dark star waited for the chants to calm down, when the clearing was silent "we have more news today" she said seriously, all the cats angled their ears to hear what she had to say "I have put of appointing a deputy for too long now, and I have finally decided the cat who fill this important position, I say these words before StarClan, so that the spirits of our warrior ancestors may hear and approve of my choice. The first deputy of dark shall be hawk wind" she finished.

The dark grey tabby looked astonished but stepped forward, "thank you dark star this is a great honor to have, I will do my best to help the clan flourish" he said his head bowed in respect, the dark she cat gave a respectful nod, the other cats ran over and congratulated hawk wind, the usually stoic Tom was blushing under his pelt at his clan mates praise.

**Author's Note:**

> this was my first story on here sorry if its not formatted right, any critics or tips on writing are appreciated


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